Mission to the Village Hidden in the Illusion
by Ashurii no Neko
Summary: Reunited Team 7 is on an A rank mission to retrieve stolen documents and to stop a plot to destroy the village Gensougakure. Of course nothing is as it seems... Reposted story. Au-ish Features OCs. Don't Like, Don't Read, Don't Flame
1. Prologue

**Mission in the Village Hidden in the Illusions**

Hi guys I'm back… I know that I started this fanfic some odd years ago in my sophomore year of high school. Now I am a junior in college and I have gotten better- at least I hope can say that- with my writing and my knowledge of Naruto.

I have decided to change a few things around like their ages and the names of some of the OCs I created and some fiddling with the storyline. My hope is to create a fanfic that is AUish in a sense but true to the storyline and as well as test my limits in creating lovable, realistic characters and reaching beyond the norm.

The rating of this story is M for Mature since I think Teen maybe underestimating it. There will be violence, language, and sexual content – how explicit is up in the air-

The pairings will involve Sasuke and Naruto –if you don't like it, don't read any further, it will get -worse from, here own- and others.

I will feature many and many OCs involving a village –so once again, if it is not your cup of tea, please do not flame me for you reading it-

Now I disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or characters except my OCs and my village. All canon Naruto Characters are created and owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

Without further ado, I present 'Mission to the Village Hidden in the Illusions'

**Prologue: A Thief in the Night**

_It was midnight in the village of Gensou; the only people that were out were nin patrolling the streets and gates of the village, those working night shifts, those returning home, and those that played in the district known as 'Sin City'. Them… or thieves and others up to no good. The usual robbers that sent their nights and sometimes days lurking in the alleyways and dark crevasses of the village. The ones that went looking for victims and goods to steal from. Of all the deviants, there was one that different. He wasn't looking for a victim. Not a piece of jewelry or cash. Not even a poor old woman to shake down as she cautiously tried to get home. _

_No, this man was after something much more dangerous and had something in mind that was much more devastating to the village he once swore his loyalty to as a shinobi, a jōnin, until he was betrayed. Now he was out for revenge and he knew just how to crack their foundation…_

He snuck into the town's archives, a task he figured even a newly graduated genin could do. Sneaking pass the first floor and second weren't too hard. Especially when you knew how to scale through the windows. It was getting through the third floor security he would give him trouble. It was a fingerprint based seal and he knew that his access was long revoked from its memory bank. He just smirked and dug into his bag; bring out a severed hand, fingerprints intact.

"Hopeful," He said to himself, "They haven't removed you out of the system my dear MIA comrade." He pressed the hand onto the seal and waiting patiently for a moment, hopeful that this could actually work.

Luck was on his side as the door became ajar, just enough to slip in and close anyone saw here. He looked around, noting the different shelves and scrolls and books. Everything containing birth records, death certificates, case records, mission logs and information on every ninja that had lived, served, undercover or is still serving the village. Everything down to their associates and family. He smiled to himself. He knew people that would pay money for information like this. He grabbed a few of them and went to landscaping, grabbing the pages on the hidden ways to leave and come into the village as well as routes that were hidden to the ordinary eye and trade routes.

This was too good to be true for him. He became so gulfed in his thievery that he didn't hear the door he entered through creak open. Entering the room was a woman of late 20s with crimson red hair in a long braid and neon green eyes. Her heightened hearing had picked up footstep from the second floor. Turning off her flashlight before she even walked through the door, she could pick up on the strange but familiar scent of cigarettes and pine needles. Even though she had a picture in her mind what the smell reminded her of, she shook her head thinking that there was no way it could be _him_ of all people.

Though the thought didn't give her any relief either way. She just made her way to see who or what this intruder was.

Her fingers fiddled with a kunai along her hip. She tried to creep up on the intruder quietly but feel her heel knock into one of the book shelf, making the lightness of sound to still enough for a trained nin in an already adrenaline heightened stage could hear. He could that the sound came from just a few 6 shelves away.

_Fuck! _He thought as he realized his was found. He scrambled to grab and stuff what he could into his bag. He made a beeline for window but stopped when a light flashed him and momentarily blinded his peripheral vision.

"Freeze," she said, "Turn around and show yourself."

He sighed and turned slowly around; his face towards the light as it showed his features. Her eyes widen as she looked at him. She scowled, her shocked expression now turned into a snarl.

"You!" She hissed at him with icy venom.

The man just smiled. As he gave her a small salute, he leaned backwards, falling out the window. The woman ran to the window and looked out of it. She could see that the man manage to landed safely and was now running away.

"FUCK!" She swore in frustration before sending out a flare that was bright and emitted a screech that was only understandable for the wolves and half bred mutts that she owned to hear. She jumped through the same window, pulling out her walkie and yelling into.

"Intruder in the restricted sector of the library, he's heading southward towards the gate. I'm right behind him. Tell Lady Kimiko, it's him." She said quickly but clearly.

The nin on the other line sprung into action as directed, tailing the woman in pursuit and retrieving their leader.

The thief was met with a force of 15 nin and ninken, including the woman that chased him down and the Kage of the village. The thief's hazelnut eyes looked at her neon green ones.

"Kimi-chan," he said in mock sincerity, "So lovely to see you again."

"That's Lady Kimiko to you scum of the earth." The woman hissed as her 3 ninken growling in their positions.

"Kasumi, stand down." Kimiko spoke, holding back her kin with a command. "Don't let him rouse you. That's what he wants."

Kasumi spat at the ground but obeyed as commanded. Kimiko turned her attention the man in front.

"You know the penalty of returning here Hideaki." She said calmly. "Now return what you stole and the punishment won't be death."

Hideaki just sneered, palming one of the ill gotten scrolls in his hand. "I actually won't be returning these but I did come here for something else… or should I say someone else."

Kimiko bristled and tensed, even the ninken sensed it and started to reacted, bearing closer.

"I don't seem to see to her at all," he said, looking around the crowd, "Is she on a mission? Too bad, I _really_ wanted to see her."

"If you think you're laying even on hand on her" Kimiko hissed, her eyes glowing brighter," I swear that I will fucking kill you and make you suffer a slow and painful death!"

Kasumi now made her way to hold back their leader. "Kimiko-obasan, your eyes."

Hideaki just shook him head. "Such a temper, how can you possible run a village if you're so emotional?"

"Get him!" Kimiko growled and the nin responded, charging forward. Hideaki was calm, too calm for a man in his position.

Before a hand could reach the man, a clay bird flew into between them and exploded. The force pushed back the frontline of the attacking the nin and Hideaki just stood there and watched Kimiko's shocked face.

Kimiko was in a state of shock. She had no idea of what just happened. Her face paled as a second accomplice came out of the shadows, his red eyes blaring the kekkei genkai of his ill fated clan.

"No…" she said, "You're supposed to be dead."

He said nothing and turned to Hideaki. "Are you done here?" His voice was monotone and to the point.

Hideaki smirked and showed him the bag. "Let's get going."

The other turned to the blonde accomplice that was standing on the building above the rest of the village force. "You know what to do Deidara."

Deidara sneered, holding two clay birds in his hands. "I'm doing all the work here, Itachi un."

Itachi's expression didn't change. "I thought you like blowing things up. Now get to it."

"Yea, yea un." Deidara threw the clay birds, setting off an explosion midair so all the birds did was create a distraction and even dust to cover their escape.

Kimiko coughed and pointed in the direction that they went. "After them…" she said. "Don't let them get pass the mountains.

The remaining nin went into pursuit with Kasumi leading the way.

It was a little over an hour went Kasumi and the group returned, Kasumi dejectedly went to the Kage's office. There was a burn mark on her wrist and her whole appearance disheveled. She knelt down and bowed apologetically, her face to the red tinted floor.

"Forgive me, Genkage." She said. "We lost at the border. The accomplices hit us with more bombs and some fire jutsus. No one was seriously hurt but we failed.

"It's alright." Kimiko replied, "Even though they got away, at least we didn't have any fatalities. If those two were the ones I think that they are, we won't have been so lucky."

"But Lady Kimiko," Kasumi interjected. She stood up and leaned on the desk Kimiko was sitting behind, her words were becoming frantic and her nails digging into the wood. "Those scrolls and documents they stole, if our enemies got a hold of them, this village, this whole region…"

"I know." Kimiko replied sharply, calming Kasumi from her current state. "You didn't think that I was just sitting getting old did you."

Kasumi huffed, cracking a small smile on her scuffed face. "Only you think like that."

"Catch." Kimiko said, throwing a medium sized capsule into Kasumi quick hands. "Send that to Konoha."

"Konoha?" Kasumi inquired. "Why them? Suna and Kumo are closer."

Kimiko lifted her eyebrow but it let go. This was her niece after all. "Konoha have the exact team I need for this problem. Three from there and 4 of our own should be able to complete before the worst happens." "That and their Kage owes us a favor from an 'incident' that happened here."

"Four?" the red head questioned before getting an idea. "When you say four, you don't mean…her?"

Kimiko's expression changed. "She's the only with enough Intel and experience for this mission and the other three will be able to help since they know as well. She'll be returning her mission in a few days. Right around the time they should arrive here."

"But will it be okay to use her?" Kasumi asked. "I mean, is she really ready for mission? The Uchiha will be a problem but you really think she's ready to face _him_ again so soon?"

Kimiko could tell that Kasumi wasn't questioning her choices. More, she was worried about the outcome of this. Her fingers were placed under her chin. "I believe she can do this. She has her support and with any luck, the Konoha nin will help her in her progress. The hawk is ready and waiting. I advise you get moving."

Kasumi nodded and bowed before running out. Kimiko was left alone. She ran her fingers through her hair, noticing the few gray strings and black strains that remained her on her hand. She leaned back and opened a drawer and took a picture frame. The little collected dust was proof of how old the picture was.

It contained a photo of her and two girls of the age of eight and seven. The youngest was a splitting image of herself, though the girl's hair flared more. The oldest had moderate pale skin, long light silver hair and dark purple eyes. She sighed, thinking on how much the girls had grown and they would be tested to their limits with this mission.

She leaned back in her chair, looking over the city in the view behind her. She sighed and shook head.

"Sometimes, I really hate this job."

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: New Mission**

It was noon and the day had already begun for many in the village of Konoha. Well…It began for some people. Three unfortunate souls were awaiting the arrival of one rather late jounin. They waited by a familiar tree near a familiar small bridge. One sat on the grass beneath her, the other leaned against the rough bark while above him sat a blonde on a large branch, plucking out leaves as he waited with the others.

"You know…" Sakura said, brushing a leaf off her leg. "After all these years, you would think that Kakashi san would manage to actually arrive earlier or at least be on time. Not have us wait for 3 hours."

"Tell me about it Sakura chan." Naruto replied, swinging his legs. "He'll be late like he is now and then with a straight grin say, He covered one eye and pulled his collar over his mouth. " 'Sorry I'm late. I was walking when I saw a lost kitten. So I helped it found its mother and then found them a home' Or something like that."

Sakura and Sasuke shook their head but knew that the impersonation was spot on to their former sensei.

He shook his head. "I tell ya, he invites us and then shows up late. That guy doesn't have a concept of time at all I tell 'ya. Totally unreliable."

"Hn…" Sasuke replied. "You're one to talk."

Naruto leaned a little off the edge to get a view of Sasuke. "Oh and why is that?"

"How many have you arrive on time and have been 'reliable' on missions?" Sasuke replied with a trademark smirk.

"And what's that suppose to mean?" Naruto growled, standing up and pulling up his loose black sleeve. "Come up here and say that."

"Hey," Sakura sighed, knocking her gloved knuckles into the tree's trunk. "Knock it off up there. You're shaking the debris on me. And Sasuke has a point. You got here half an hour ago. I got here an hour after Sasuke and I've been since ten o'clock."

Her fist hitting the tree shook it, making Naruto grabbed onto the trunk. "But doesn't that mean I was the smart one since I didn't have to wait for Kakashi?" He blurted out. He covered his mouth and paled as he realized the mistake that he made in saying that. He looked down and pale further as Sasuke moved out of the way and Sakura stood up and gripped the tree.

"What was that you said Naruto?" she growled, shaking the tree with strength only a pupil of the Sannin Tsunade would possess.

Naruto hung on for dear life, apologizing through the tremors, leaves and a shaky speech. Sasuke just shook his head as if to insult Naruto's stupidity in angering Sakura.

Yards away from the scene, an older male watched everything unfold through his uncovered eye. Hiding under a mask his face was curled into a smile as he looked at his former team.

The first that he noted was the girl known as Haruno Sakura. In her past, her focus had been solely on getting Sasuke's attention and affection instead of being a ninja. This resulted in situations of being captured by the enemy, tension throughout the group and moments of doubts for Kakashi whether or not Sakura would live long enough to reach her full potential without him or the other two boys to save her. Looking at her now, he could see that his worrying was in vain. Tsunade had taken the girl under her wing and showed the young pink haired girl what it was to be a kunoichi, strength, and –dare I say- girl power. Being the oldest, by being the first to be 18, Sakura was still the shortest of the team with Naruto a head above her and Sasuke two heads taller. Her hair was still short but took on a darker pink. Her eyes had become a dark green from the aging that came with being a ninja. Her attire was a red sleeves one piece dress with a longer train at back of her skirt, making it touch the ground, her tan shorts, longer gloves and wrapping around her chest and thighs.

Next was the blonde that had fallen out of the tree, rubbing his head. Kakashi could only smile at his antics. The unpredictable blonde known as Uzumaki Naruto. Kakashi remembered Naruto in the past. He wanted to be Hokage so people would acknowledge and respect him, wanted Sakura's affection and the defeat of Sasuke at his hand. This resulted in moments where Sakura had to knock some sense into him or when she felt he was bothering Sasuke too much for her liking and some other ones where Naruto got himself into trouble. But there were times when he proved himself to be that unpredictable ninja and surprised everyone by overcoming any obstacle that stood in his way. No longer known as Kyuubi or the prankster he was a child –especially since he had passed that title down to the younger generation of his followers-, Naruto had matured and his clothes showed. Thanks to Sakura and the other female ninja of Konoha, he no longer wore blinding orange. He still wore orange, but it was a burnt orange with black and blue in the color scheme. The jacket he once wore was upgraded to one with the brunt orange, two patches of blue for the pockets coloring, with black sleeves that exposed his fishnet covered shoulders. His bottoms were normal fitting pants that were black. His eyes were the usual blue and his hair that sunlight blonde but had grown a little in length that started to resemble his father's.

And last but certainly not least was Konoha's prodigal son known as Uchiha Sasuke. There wasn't a person that didn't know about how his goals to avenge his clan's demise at his brother's hand had resulted in his defection to Orochimaru and Madara's causes and almost his own death at the hands of the Ninja Alliance. But after everything was said and done, Sasuke was able to redeem himself by saving Naruto and ending Madara's life. Sasuke was able to return to the village, under some restrictions of course.

Due to the council, and their involvement in what made Sasuke the way he was – and the fact he was the sole remainder of the 'purest' form of the Sharingan, an asset- Sasuke could not be put to death. And because of Naruto, Tsunade couldn't make Sasuke a prisoner or a civilian. And it made Tsunade more pissed that because Sasuke was a genin when he defected, all she could do was delay when he could he take the tests to become a chuunin or jounin by 2 years since both Naruto and the council overruled her. But she could make sure that he was watched daily by Black Ops and the only missions he could perform were degrading D missions, such as gardening, finding cats and babysitting. That and he was restricted from leaving the village. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke knew that Tsunade was taking joy in giving Sasuke such missions since she couldn't directly make him suffer and pay for what she felt Naruto went through in trying to get him back. So what little dignity and pride he had left, Sasuke did his missions. No matter how degrading they were.

His mannerisms had changed slightly. He was still stoic and didn't socialize much but he wasn't revenge driven the way he used to be. His appearance hadn't changed much either. His eyes and hair was still the Uchiha black. His hair had grown more but it still defied gravity and was spiky. His clothes were a mixture of his former genin years by being dark blue and white pants with the Uchiha Fan insignia on his back with style from his defective years as he wore a blue shirt and a black obi, where he kept his sword, instead of the rope he was seen with. This made everyone happy as Sasuke no longer wore the 'ass bow' as Naruto always put it.

As Kakashi watched his former students interacted, he could see the difference from when they first joined as a team and now. He remembered how Naruto always tried to pick a fight with Sasuke and Sakura tried to flirt with Sasuke while Sasuke ignore both of them. Now the dynamics changed. Sakura no longer cling or longed for Sasuke the way she used to. And she didn't hit Naruto unless he really deserved it or needed. She was no longer the damsel or the background fighter. She was in the frontline along the boys. Naruto's picking a fight and teasing of Sasuke was more for fun and companionship rather than rivalry. Sasuke finally openly considered Naruto and Sakura his friends and had a deep consideration for them. He wasn't as moody and stoic anymore around the rest of Konoha 12 and the allies of Konoha.

It pleased Kakashi very much to see how they have grown from the kids that they use to be. And this mission would hopefully prove just how much they had grown over the years. He looked at his watch.

"Time to make my appearance." He calmly said, making a handsign just before he teleported from his location to in front of the waiting young adults.

-X-

"Oi!" Kakashi said, waving his head as he stood in front of his former team. He sweatdropped when he was met with the silent glare that they were giving him. But he could open his mouth, Sakura interrupted him.

"Don't say it Kakashi san." She said. "How about we skip the excuse and go straight to why we're here?"

Naruto folded his arms and nodded in argument.

Kakashi just shrugged.

"Why did you call us out here?" Sasuke asked.

"Well," Kakashi replied. "I was going to take you guys out in celebration of you guys finally all being chuunin but I received a message from Lady Tsunade."

"Tsunade obaasan?" Naruto inquired. "What did she want?"

"I am to escort you guys to your new mission." Kakashi announced. "There's an A rank mission for you in another village."

"Cool!" Naruto shouted. He then looked at Sasuke. "Then why was Sasuke called here as well. Is there a separate for him as well?"

Sakura slapped Naruto upside his head. "Can you be any more insensitive?"

Sasuke ignored and was about ready to make his leave when Kakashi spoke again.

"You would think that," he started, "But this mission requires you three. In fact, it was asked personally that you three take on this mission."

"Us three?" Sakura questioned. "And Lady Tsunade agreed to it? I figure that that she would make some argument for Shikamaru. And what about Sai and Yamoto-san?"

"Like I said," Kakashi replied. "You three were asked for. And Sai and Yamoto are on missions already."

"So where is this mission taking us?" Sasuke asked. He figured that if Tsunade was letting him go, it had to be a place where he could be watched or suffer some kind indirect punishment.

Kakashi smiled. "You're in for a treat with this one. The village is called Gensougakure."

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura looked at each other. "Gensougakure?" Naruto said. "What village is that?"

"Ahh…" Kakashi said, "You'll find out more in the morning. We leave at 6. Pack what you need and be prepared for anything."

The three nodded.

"Oh and guys…." Kakashi added at the end. "Congrats on being a team again."

He teleported off before any of them could response. Not that they would due to the shock and surprise of the situation. This would be the first since Sasuke's return that they were an official team again. They looked at each and couldn't but smile and smirk. They started to walk towards home, deciding that Sakura was the first drop off.

"So what you guys packing?" Naruto asked, "I figure some ramen, clothes, my weapons, manga and my trusty nightcap should do it for me."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I hope you plan to bring more clothes than food. I doubt we'll be lacking food where we're going."

"Oh and what are you…." Naruto started to say but decided against it when he was Sakura's expression. It read that pain would follow the end of that sentence. Naruto, still loving his life intact turned to Sasuke.

"Don't even ask me, dobe." Sasuke replied. "Worry about your stuff and be on time tomorrow."

Naruto pouted and folded his arms as they approached Sakura's household.

"See ya Naruto, Sasuke." Sakura ran up to her door, "Don't kill each other on the way home."

Naruto waved her off as she opened and closed the door behind her. "Sasuke…."

Sasuke eyed from his side. "What dobe?"

Naruto grabbed him arm. "Feed me, I'm hungry and this be my last time having Ichiraku Ramen for weeks or maybe months." He then grabbed his wrists. "Please Sasuke _kun_?"

Sasuke really hated hearing himself be called 'Sasuke kun'. But he knew how to retaliate. Sasuke pulled Naruto closer, looking him straight in the eyes. "Sure I'll feed you. But if you're calling me 'Sasuke kun' then I get to call you Naru_ chan_ tonight."

Naruto stunned, face screaming 'mission accomplished' as Sasuke walk ahead. Naruto finally shook off the surprise and ran after Sasuke.

"That was playing dirty and you know it, teme!" Naruto shouted.

"Do you want your food or not?" Sasuke said, making Naruto quiet down.

"Teme…." Naruto muttered under his breath. Sasuke just smirked and relished in the quiet.

-X-

"Sakura are you sure you have everything you need?" Sakura's mother, a woman of average height and body with Sakura's hair color but dark eyes asked. "I could prepare some food or wash more clothes…."

"Okaasan," Sakura interrupted her, "I'm fine. This isn't the first long trip mission I've packed for." Sakura smiled, trying to ease her mother's worrying. "I'll be fine. Kakashi san is with and Sasuke and Naruto will never let anything happen to me."

Her mother smiled and folded her arms over her chest. "Those boys… who would have thought they would be the best of friends?"

"You're telling me," Sakura laughed, "I've been with them for years."

The woman shook her head, "I wish they come over more often." She smiled just like her daughter. "It's always so lively when they come. But you know… oh never mind."

"What?" Sakura said. "What is it?"

"Oh I was just thinking about how close they are and I'm just reading too much into it. I'll go finish dinner before the rice burned. I'll call when it's ready."

She left the room, leaving Sakura to shake her head. "Read too much into it huh? If she only knew."

"What do you guys do?" Sakura yelled at 5:50 in the morning in front of the same tree as the day before. She looked at the disheveled looked of her teammates. They looked liked they didn't sleep enough and got dress in the dark.

"We did some training." Naruto replied. "Sasuke challenged me and I accepted."

Sakura hit her forehead with her palm. "In a cage with a no bar death match?"

Naruto scratched his head, sheepishly. Sasuke rubbed his neck.

"My, my." Kakashi called out, "We're here bright and early. We can get going."

"Wait!"

The four turned and saw Tsunade walking towards them. Her hair was partly waving from where she slept on it and it was obvious she fell asleep at the office as there was ink on the side of her face.

"I need to talk to you guys first." She said. The three stood attention.

"First off, Gensou hasn't allowed many nin into their village for obvious reasons. But don't make any trouble for the village."

They nodded. "Second, that being said, watch out for each other. Be prepared for anything." She shouted.

They nodded and she sighed. "Thirdly, come back safe and intact. Do your best."

They smiled and bowed. "See ya." Naruto and Sakura replied as Kakashi led them out of the gate.

Tsunade watched them as they walked the dirty path, the sun slowly rising in front of them. She ran her hand through her hair. She decided now that would be a good thing to get something to eat and a drink before Shizune came looking for her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Getting There **

It had been at least four hours since they had left Konoha village. Throughout the walk, Kakashi was in front and Naruto and the rest were in the back, following him from behind. Though they wouldn't say it, they were curious about where Kakashi was taking them. It wasn't that they doubted his sense of direction, since they had been with him for so long. It was just they at least wanted to know where they were heading.

After a while, they talked amongst themselves and decided that Sakura asked Kakashi where they going. At first she thought it was a bad idea but after the vote against her, she had to with thoughts on how she would get them back for this. As she got closer, she turned looked at Sasuke and Naruto. She mouthed to them: _This is a really bad idea. _They mouthed back to her_: Go on. _Sighing, she walked up to Kakashi, tapping him on his shoulder.

"Kakashi?" Kakashi turned and Sakura at his side. "Yes, Sakura?" he said.

Sakura began to gather herself as she spoke. "Me and the guys were wondering… where we were going… and… ummm …"

"Relax." He said. "Tell the others that we will be soon. Okay?"

"Ok…" Sakura said. She walked back to Naruto and Sasuke. "What did he said?" they asked her. "He said that we will be there soon." she replied. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and sighed. _He never gives a straight answer._ They thought.

Although they failed to get an answer of where they were going, they decide it was best that they continued the walk without asked any more questions.

About an hour or so later, they came into a small boating village near a large river. It was made of small houses, about five docks, and multitudes of trading posts and stores. "Well," said Kakashi, "we're here."

The chuunin looked at village and then at themselves. Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"And what is exactly 'here'?"

"This is where we are leaving to Gensou from." Kakashi said.

The ninjas looked at each other again. "But Kakashi sensei, why are we leaving from here?" asked a confused Sakura. "I thought we were going to walk to Gensou," said Naruto.

Kakashi shook his head. "As _fun_ as it would have been to walk, we can't."

"Why not?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi put his hand behind his head, scratching it. "I'll explain it all on the boat."

As he began towards the docks, the chuunin looked at each other again.

"_The boat?"_

After realizing that Kakashi had gone far ahead, they ran towards the docks to find him. When they had caught up with Kakashi, he was finishing a conversation with an elder man of his sixties.

Besides the man was a large fishing boat. It was the size of an average sea fishing boat. Definitely made for long traveling on the water. "A pleasure to help you Hatake san." said the man.

"The pleasure's all mine." Kakashi replied.

"Kakashi san," Naruto said, "What's going on?"

"We're leaving." "Yoshinori ojiisan here has agreed to take on his boat," said Kakashi, pointing to the boat in front of them.

"Yes, come along young chuunin," said Yoshinori, "come aboard."

Listening to Kakashi and the man, they boarded the boat, followed by the two men.

**-X-**

"So Kakashi sensei, _why_ are on a boat for?" asked Naruto.

They had set sail about a couple of hours or so ago. They had been heading downstream from the village with Yoshinori steering. This question had been bothering him since they set sail.

Kakashi scratched his head. "Remember when Tsunade said that not many go to Gensou?"

"Yeah." said Sakura. She and Sasuke had been listening in the conversation and wanted to know what was going as well. "I remember her saying that."

"I guess there's a reason for that, right?" said Sasuke.

"Correct. In fact, there are _two _reasons as to why."

"So what are they?" asked Sasuke. He leaned against the side of the boat as Sakura and Naruto sat on the floor, close to Kakashi.

Kakashi cleared his throat as he began explaining. "Well… one of the reason is that there's an enormous waterway that separates us from them." "You see…" Kakashi took out a scroll and laid it on the ground, spreading the paper out. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura gather around to see it.

It was a map of all the lands known to the ninjas.

"This is where we are." Kakashi said as he pointed out the area known as the Hi no Kuni, the home country. "We are going here." He trailed a path along the marked waterways and canals past Suna and Kumo to a comparably small mass of land. "This here is known as Gen no Kuni, Origin Country. It was created around the time of the first Shinobi War by fleeing refugees, nin that refuse to fight and clans that were in danger of execution due to their power and abilities. You may remember from Haku whose family was under the same scrutiny in Kiri. Gensougakure is the capital of the country. It's in the center of the country and has the highest quota of ninja compared to the other ninja villages in the country. It would normally take a week to get to the Gensou from our village, but we were lucky to be given a way to cut the travel time to 2 days instead."

"So instead of walking and at sea for 7 days." Sasuke wrapped up. "We're on a boat for 2 days instead."

"Right" Kakashi answered. "The other reason is considerably the worst of them all."

"Well, what is it?" Sakura asked.

"The thing is that the village is surrounded in a mountainous terrain," Kakashi said, "It's practically impenetrable."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at Kakashi. "_So how _were we supposed to get there if the terrain prevents others from getting through?" Naruto asked.

"We're meeting escorts from the village to show us there," Kakashi said, "Only the ninjas of the village know how to get through the area with things like secret passageways."

"Ohhhh…" said Naruto."Well, that pretty much answered my question."

"All right you guys!" yelled Yoshinori. "According to my calculations, we should be reach Gen no Kuni but nightfall tomorrow and get to the contact point the next morning.

The chuunin gritted their teeth and smiled.

_Great…_


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Beating Boredom**

You know what's worse than being stuck on a boat for two days without being properly prepared for it?

It's Naruto reminding everyone how boring it is.

The first day went decent enough. The boat was big enough to move on. But with its speed and the movement of the waves, walking wasn't a particular nice option to take. Kakashi was fine with his book and was use to this form of traveling as he done so in the past. Sasuke was using the time for mediation. Sakura was reading her medical books that Tsunade had wanted her to read for some time but she could never find enough breaks in her weeks before now to actually sit and read it. And naturally the driver of the boat himself was at home as he whistled and hummed.

Naruto on the other hand was having the worst time handing the silence and the lack of ability for movement. He spend the first few hours of the new day mediation like Sasuke was in order to further his ability to tune into Kyuubi's charka without becoming the nine tailed demon. After falling asleep twice and leaning on Sakura from the sway, Naruto wanted other things to do, but he was at a lost. His manga collection was minimal and could only keep him occupied for so long before he was bored again and he couldn't practice jutsu or train. And he really, REALLY didn't want to resort to charka control practice.

"I'm hungry…" Naruto whined. "Can we eat now?"

"Why can't you eat by yourself?" Sasuke asked, still in meditation mode from this morning as his hands were folded and still and his eyes closed.

Naruto pouted up his lips. "I don't wanna feel like a fatty eating alone…"

Sasuke refused further comment and Kakashi decide not to retort.

"Naruto, boredom eating isn't going to help." Sakura replied. "But I am hungry myself. I'm telling you now; if you vomit on me or anyway near me I will throw you over board."

Naruto nodded happily but discreetly winced, knowing how true her threat was. "So what are you eating?"

"I'm sure you'll be having ramen," Sakura replied. "But if you actually wanna eat healthy for once, my mother made me a container of mild tomato and curry with chicken dumplings."

"Tomato?" Sasuke opened one of his eyes. Even though Sakura couldn't cook to save anyone's life –but could certainly end it- her mother was like an underground gourmet chef.

"Yup." Sakura replied, noticing the way that Sasuke decided now to stop mediating. "She knows how much of a picky eater you tend to be. So she figured that she would make something at least you can eat."

Kakashi heaved out a mock sigh, making Sakura turn to face him. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Kakashi-san, she made more than enough for me to share. She knew you guys would want some."

Kakashi just beamed and turned to Yoshinori.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm set." Yoshinori replied as he steered the boat, "I got some fish salting and drying that I've been waiting to try."

"Yoshinori-ojiisan," Naruto said, "Are you a fisherman or something?"

The man laughed, "You can say that. But sometimes fishing doesn't cut it. I got a family near the port and I got take care of them."

"So on the side; you take nin like us to Gensou?" Sakura asked.

"Yes and no." he replied. "Usually, I make this boat here into a ferry and take small groups to places like Gensou. But really, I'm one of the few ferries that go to Gen no Kuni regularly. And the Genkage pays us for our services."

"Genkage?" Sasuke inquired. "I've never heard or seen one of them before."

"They may not be recognized like the Hokage and the Kazekage, but Gen no Kuni does have leaders in their shinobi villages that are recognized by their daimyo. The difference is that they don't look to be recognized like our village is."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, remembering the Star village and how one of their former kages was so driven for them be recognized as a power like Konoha.

"How do I put this?" Kakashi started to think. "The country came to an agreement with other Kages that they wouldn't seek any further power than to govern over their village and protect it. The whole the country was created based runaways and refugees. They didn't want power, just a haven for themselves. Over time the other lands just didn't deem them a threat. And Gen didn't seek out conquest and isolated itself from the rest of the world aside from trade and the occasional treaty to keep peace among others."

"Wow," Naruto replied, "I didn't think a country like that existed before."

"You'll be surprise about the world we live in." Kakashi concluded.

Naruto was about to reply but was stopped by his stomach rumbling. He clutched it and sheepishly smiled. "All this talking made me hungry for real. Let's eat ttebayo!"

The others just looked at him and laughed. After all, it has been a long time since they ate as a team.

It didn't seem long before night came again. The members of the boats were eating dinner and just having random side conversations since Yoshinori decided–rather forced- to take a break and ate along with them. The hospitality couldn't be refused. After some time, Naruto turned to him.

"Oi, ojiisan." He said with a muffled mouth.

"Naruto swallow your food first!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto gulped and then continued. "Can you tell us what Gensougakure's like?"

Yoshinori rubbed the whiskers on his face. "Let's see. I've been to Gensou my fair share of times and let me to you, it feels like home."

"But how can a place surrounded by mountains feel like home?" Sakura asked, "I would think that it would be too isolated."

The old man smirked, "That's what I thought too when I first started. But what Kakashi didn't tell is that it's a bigger village than it sounds. The people are friendly and ninja are bountiful and they always know how to make peace. It reminds me of Konoha really. "

The young nin smiled; thinking that if the village was like their own home, adjusting wouldn't be too hard.

"Though…" They watched Yoshinori's face saddened.

"Their history isn't the best of the best. They lost two good clans due to a power struggle. You youngsters weren't even born yet when a riot broke between two of the foundation clans of the village. So many casualties. I almost thought chaos would erupt. But the Genkage, she knew how to handle it… probably will be called one of the great when her time comes to step down."

"She?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm…" Yoshinori said, "Oh that's right, you didn't know. Majority of the Kages for this village have been women. I believe this the 7th one and there been 5 women and two men."

"We've only had Tsunade-obaasan." Naruto replied.

"Well, one of the founding clan was a very matriarchal clan. The other was very patriarchal so I guess you can tell that they clashed a lot."

"What about landmarks?" Sasuke asked. "We have the Hokage Mountain."

"Oh, there are several things that are landmarks for them." Yoshinori replied. "There are the statues in front of the Kage's office that show the former and present Hokage for eternity in charka enforce stone so it never erodes."

"Wow…"Naruto was in awe at the idea of a statue erected of him that stood the tests of time.

"One sad note is the old part of the village where the riot took place. In respect of the families, it hasn't been touched. And for the adults like Kakashi-san and me..."

He started to chuckle. "There's a part of the village that is blocked off from the rest of the village."

"Why is that?" Sakura asked.

Yoshinori laughed and rubbed his nose. "Let's just say that they don't call it Fuzen no Tokai for nothing."

"Fuzen no Tokai?" Sakura thought for a second before her cheek tinted pink. "A place called Sin City is a landmark!"

She looked to Kakashi. "No way are you going anyway near there!"

She then points to the boys. She opened her mouth but nothing came. She folded her arms and just let out a sigh before turning her head away.

_It's not them going there that I'm worried about..._

"It's nothing too bad really." Yoshinori explained, "It's just area for gambling casinos, bars, late night restaurants, clubs, the occasion gentlemen's club and probably one or two brothels…" "All regulated by the Kage with constant check-ups, inspection and round the clock look outs from the nin assign to that area." He quickly added at the end, looking at Sakura's face.

"But have such a place?" Sakura asked.

"They must have figured that people are going to do it anyway, so why not make sure they do it under their own laws and watchful eyes. It may seem bad but it keeps crime rates down since no one has to sneak around to do and they keep kids and other people that shouldn't be there out."

"This village seems to be very thorough." Sasuke replied. "I'm starting to wonder why they need us for."

Naruto ignored Sasuke's comment, "Do they have festivals and stuff we have?"

Sakura shook her head as Kakashi laughed. "Is food the only thing on your mind, Naruto?" Sakura retorted.

Yoshinori laughed vociferously. "It's a trade capital. Of course there are festivals! There 3 small ones and 4 important one for each other season. December was the winter festival so spring will be in March."

"I can't wait for it…" Naruto cheered but before letting out a yawn that he tried to cover.

"Ma ma," Kakashi commented. "Someone's tired."

"No, not me," Naruto replied, putting his thumbs up, "I'm good.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and though the same thing.

_We'll see…_

Half an hour later, Sasuke noticed the weight that leaned on him. He looked down to see Naruto asleep as he expected the blonde to be. Problem was he was leaning on Sasuke and not leaving. He tried gently pushing the blonde away but just resulting in Naruto wrapping his arms around his torso. Sasuke looked around and noted that Sakura was sleeping on the other side of the boat in the shade and Kakashi's attention was with Yoshinori looking at the sea in front of them. He sighed, figuring it was safe from watching eyes.

Sasuke took the opportunity to pull the blonde in closer. It felt warmer and there weren't any blankets close by to use. Sasuke took in the quiet breeze, the waves that slowed down to a soft rock and Naruto soft breathing. Sasuke stifled a yawn and figured if all else failed, he would blame his sleep and Naruto for their position. Sasuke slouched down and leaned his head onto Naruto's and drifted off to sleep.

"WAKE UP!"

Sakura was shaking Naruto to wake him up. She and Sasuke were already awake.

"…" Naruto simply turned on his side and mumbled incoherently.

Sakura sighed.

"**WAK!" **Her soft clenched fist met his hard head.

"OWW!" Naruto woke up in pain and began rubbing the throbbing lump that was surfacing

"Sakura-chan," he whined, yawning out the pain, "What was that for?"

"We're here." said Kakashi.

"Huh? We are?" Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"Yep" said Yoshinori.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura turned to look at Yoshinori.

"We're about ten minutes or so from the docks."

"WE ARE?" yelled Naruto.

"Come see for yourself."

The three chuunin walked up to the front of the boat. Sure enough, though still a little dark, they could make out dock from the light post. They could even make to people. But just barely.

"Let's pack our stuff." Kakashi said.

They shook their heads and went to tend to their bags. By the time they were ready, they docked on the docks.

As they went on the dock, the two people they saw walked towards them. They could tell one was a man and the other a woman. But their faces were concealed under their ANBU masks, one a cat and the other resembled a bird. What they could see was that the man had light brown hair with small traced of grey strains, wearing his ANBU uniform and the woman had long slivery gray hair that was in a ponytail by styling sticks that matched her short purple kimono and black pants.

The woman walked up to them first, followed by the man.

"Welcome," she said cheerfully, "I hope you enjoyed your trip."

Umm…" Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at each other.

"It was fine." They said weakly in unison, knowing that it was sheer will and conversation that got them through the 2 day ride.

"Well, there is no time to waste," the man said, turning to the woman.

"Yes. You're right." the woman said. "It is time to go."

The man and woman turned to the chuunin and their cell leader.

"Come on, the trail is up this path." She said to them.

They nodded and went on the ship to get their bags. Luckily for them, everything that they brought with them fit into the one or two bags that they carried.

"Are you guys ready?" the woman asked. They nodded towards her.

"Okay, then." She replied, she turned to Yoshinori and bowed. "Thank you for bringing these shinobi to us. If you stop in Gensou anytime again, you know where to find me."

Yoshinori just smiled. "Just doing my job. You guys be safe you hear?"

After saying their good bye and thanks to Yoshinori, Kakashi and the chuunin left the boat and followed the Gensou nin.

**TBC**

Got questions? Don't be afraid to ask me. Please review if you can spare the time.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Tricks and Trips**

For some time, they had been walking the trail that seems to lead to a mountain region. Naruto walked up faster to meet up with the woman who was ahead of all four of them. He tapped her on her shoulder. The woman turned around, but didn't stop walking.

"Yes?" She said

"I was wonder," Naruto began, "How long is this walk mum…"

"Yume."

"Huh?"He looked blankly at her.

"My name is Yume."

Though he couldn't see, through her voice, he could tell she was smiling.

"And the walk shouldn't be too long now. I give it another hour and change."

"Umm…thanks, Yume."

Naruto went back to others. There, they noticed that Naruto was blushing slightly. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at woman before giving Naruto a puzzled look.

A few minutes later, they walked into what appeared to be a dead end.

"Let's go back," Sasuke stated, placing his arms at his waist, "We probably took a wrong turn."

"No we didn't." Yume replied. "Shin-san."

Yume and the man named Shin walked up to the wall, side by side. Naruto, and the rest watched as Shin and Yume performed hand signs simultaneously. They began with the sign of the horse and ended with the tiger. They each place one hand on the wall and slid it down. As their fingers ran down the spine of the wall, the chuunin noticed that the wall appear to be watery.

They watched in awe as the wall did a ripple effect when they removed their fingers.

"Wowww." They said unison. Not Sasuke. He's too cool for that. OR so he thinks.

"Well just don't stand there." Shin said.

"Yes. Come on," Yume happily replied. She then did an unexpected thing: She walked into the wall and disappeared from sight.

"WHAT?"The chuunin yelled. Well Naruto and Sakura did anyway. Sasuke was just in a state of shock.

The chuunin went closer to the wall. "Where did she go?" asked Naruto.

"I'm in here." Yume's voice called out in an echo and the two stepped back. "Come on! It's safe!"

They nodded to each other. One by one, they each cautiously walked through the wall and what was a cave. Behind them followed Kakashi and Shin.

Soon they began walking again. They tried to avoid the leaking water and loose rocks from above and the holes below their feet.

"Kakashi-san," Sakura whispered to him. "Was that what you were talking about back on the boat?"

"Yes." He replied just as quietly. "That was exactly what I was talking about."

"Excuse me!" Sasuke said, trying to get to the woman's attention. _It would be a hell of a lot better if I knew her name. _

"Her name is Yume." Naruto blurted out as if he had read Sasuke's mind.

Naruto blushed slightly as his two teammates stared at him.

"How do _you_ know her name?" Sasuke asked. _And how did he know I was thinking that?_

Naruto give him a fox smirk. "Because she told me." He gloated.

Sasuke scowled.

"Umm… Yume." Sasuke called out as he ran.

"Hmm?"

Yume turned her head and saw Sasuke running after her.

"Yes?" she stared blankly at him.

"I had to ask…" he started before she interrupted him.

"How we were able to do that thing with the wall and why have to do it to begin with?" she said finishing for him.

"Uhh…yeah." He nodded, and then stopped. "Wait… how do you know what I was about to say?"

"People always asked how we do that. Even civilians from our own village."

"Hn."

"Now back to the question. Well…" she began as she thought about what to say. "As you saw, the wall is a fake, set to throw off people who are traveling and/or not of the Gensou ninja elite."

"But why throw them off?"

"Because this way is a shortcut through the mountains. The original way is half a day's journey since then you have to go over and around some of the mountains. What we're doing is going through the mountain and cutting the distance significantly. And we can't just have people taking this route. It could jeopardize the safety of the village."

"So only the ninjas of the village know this path?"

Native ninja that travel back and forward through the village and those that travel with trading groups." She answered.

"Trading groups?" Sasuke questioned, though he remembered briefly the mentioning of how Gensou was a trade capital."They used this way as well?"

"Not this route all the time but yes, they're one of the groups that use this form of travel." She answered facing Sasuke directly, "You see, only us those we bring -"

As Yume was talking, she didn't hear the other man yell at them. Sasuke looked and saw the large pointed rock that was heading down towards them. But Yume could respond herself, Sasuke had them pushed up against the wall as it crashed down, piercing the ground where Yume was standing.

Yume blinked for a moment before her eyes turned to Sasuke was breathing heavily beside her.

"You are okay?" he asked.

"Sasuke!" Sakura and Naruto ran towards them.

"Yume san," Shin asked, "Are you two okay?"

For a moment they were quiet and then they were greeting to an unusual sight.

Yume yelped and pushed Sasuke off her as she then pressed herself against the wall, breathing hard.

Sasuke, in his own shock, tripped over the rock that had just fallen, fell against the wall of the other side. The Konoha nin were in shock. As long as they have been with Sasuke, they have never any female –younger or older- that kind of revolting reaction to Sasuke. Sakura stood with her mouth gaped while Naruto went to help Sasuke up.

Soon Yume's breathing slow back to normal and she looked to the shocked faces around.

"What was that for?" Sasuke asked, a little ticked, "I move you out the way and you push me?"

Yume bowed several times. "I'm so sorry." She repeated each time she bowed. She then back at them again. "I'm going continue walking ahead. I'll… just get going then…"

She walked at a fast pace, leaving Shin to sigh. He turned Sasuke who was finally on his feet.

"Please excuse her." He apologized. "She's a little… jumpy around other guys."

Sakura came back to them. "That's jumpy? But why would she be? She seem fine to before." Not that she mean. Though she hated that Sasuke was pushed, at least she knew the walk would be without the woman flirting with Sasuke since being anywhere closer than normal length repulsed her. She smiled at the thought of a quiet mission if the girls were anything like this one.

Naruto though was happy that Sasuke was okay and neither was hurt, tried to keep a straight face as held back laughing at his teammate's expense. He knew that this was a definite shot to ego for a girl to reject him like that, even if he was doing anything other than helping her.

Kakashi took everything in amusement. He figured that this would be very interesting. To say the least.

Soon, they exited the cave and were now walking on a trail, surrounded by trees. Yume way ahead of the rest of the group sighed as they reach the outside and walked along the trail. She unconsciously added an extra bounce to her step

"How long until we reach the village?" Kakashi asked Shin.

"Not too long." He replied and pointed to Yume, "She perks up when we get close to the village."

Another 20 minutes after, Yume was all but skipping as she led the way.

"Hurry up!" she yelled far from the front. "We're just a few feet away!"

Without telling Kakashi, the three chuunin ran ahead to catch up with Yume. When they had caught with Yume, she had stopped running and was standing in from of a large purple gate. They stood each on Yume's side. Yume sighed and looked at her sides.

"We're here," she said happily, jumping a little in place.

"You mean…" asked Sakura.

"That this is…" Naruto continued from her.

"Yep." Yume replied beaming, though it couldn't be seen.

"Welcome to Gensougakure chuunin from Konohagakure." She said, posing in front of the gate and birds decided to fly off from the trees.

**TBC**

**Next chapter I'm be doing reviews….**


	6. Chapter 5

Author Note:

As mentioned, I am going to go over the reviews I got for the past 4 chapters and prologue. First I want to thank all those for reviewing. I know this story –and my other ones- are taking some time to get done but once I have more time, I'll get working on this. This one and the option prequel are its remodeling phases.

To Shinfu and Samsal: thank you for your reviews. There will be plenty more Sasuke and Naruto moments and answers to Yume's reaction to Sasuke as the story progresses.

Also please notice that since I have started this story, I have grown and have actually come to like Sakura –post skip not that god awful preskip excuse of a girl- so there will be no bashing of her character. But there will poking fun of at her and Sasuke's expense because it's fun and actually relevant to the plot –but mostly because it's fun-

That and whenever I refer to FT –unless stated otherwise- it's the shorter name for Fuzen no Tokai.

**Chapter 5: The Meeting**

When Shin and Kakashi got to the gates, the guards saw the six of them and immediately opened the large doors. The six ninjas walked into the village as the gate closed behind them.

As the Konoha chuunin looked around at their surroundings, they were kinda amazed at what they saw. For it to be so early in morning the village people were up and about as though they had been up since earlier. But what amazed them the most was how similar Gensou was to Konoha, just like Yoshinori told them. The people seem the same and just as friendly. The only difference that they saw – as they would figure- was that there wasn't a mountain that contained the carved faces of the past and present Kages.

"Excuse me." Sakura said, "Where are we going?"

"We're going there." Shin said, pointing to a large purple shingled building up ahead.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Remember? You have a meeting with the Genkage." Yume answered this time.

Soon their walk ended in front of the enormous building. On the walkway, there were statues of pervious Genkages. Majority were women. The statues ended at the front door with the statue of the current Genkage, another woman. Just was everything was told to them on the boat.

When they walked through the building, the chuunin noticed that the ninjas and workers inside began bowing as they passed by. Naruto was enjoying it, since no one has ever bowed to him before. Sasuke noticed that Yume was waving and greeting them. He began thinking:

_Are they bowing to us or are they bowing because of Yume?_

"Welcome, welcome." an energetic female's voice said.

They had walked up to the front desk where a woman, with red hair in a braid and odd green eyes and looked to be younger than Kakashi and Shin, stood up and bowed for the umpteenth time since they had been in the building.

"Lady Kimiko will see you in her office."

"Thanks Kasumi." Yume said. She then turned to the others.

"I hope you don't mind a couple of minutes more of walking cause we'll need to walk a 'couple' flights of stairs."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura became a little fearful from her too sweet tone. They had a feeling it was going to be more than few flights of stairs.

They were right.

It turned out that the couple flights of stairs were a couple _hundred _steps.

'Two hundred and ninety- five steps of stairs to be exacted.' According to Yume.

When the three chuunin reached their destined floor, they were grasping for air.

But what really got to them was that Yume and Shin were the only ones not dying or wheezing.

Kakashi was tired, but he won't let it show.

They turned to face the front and saw large two- door doorway with a symbol embedded in each. The symbol consisted of two separate lines that curved into each other. The first line came from the north and curved into a 6-figure. The second line curved out of the circle made by the first line and went south.

"What's the symbol?" Naruto asked Yume.

"That symbol is the crest of the village." She responded.

"Oh." "Also, it our version of yin and yang." she stated.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"See the line coming from the north?"

"Yes?" Sasuke instead replied.

"Well that line represents yin and the south one is yang." Yume explained.

"So why do they combine?" said Sakura.

"Because yin and yang are two halves of one whole. So the two lines combine to form one line, representing one's balance and unity. But I think it goes back to when the village and country was first created and there were a number of people coming from north and south of the mountains to live here."

"WOW!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah, but enough about that. The Genkage is waiting for us."

"That's right." said Kakashi, stepping in front. "Let's go."

The chuunin nodded in return and walked through the doors.

Naruto and the others -excluding Yume and Shin- looked in awe at the room they had walked in.

The room was painted jade with white trimming. There was a desk, with the village crest on the front, in the middle of the room with 5 chairs near it. Obviously one for herself and the 4 in front for them. On the walls were the pictures of the previous Genkages and large wide bookshelves.

"I see you're enjoying the room." A voice said to them.

Their attention went to a large window. On the side of it was a woman with long flared jet-black hair. She was it was a white and purple trimmed robe. Though her own clothes were a forest green dress and black pants.

"That's good, I just had it redecorated. I was wondering if someone liked it."

The woman then turned to face them. The chuunin saw that the woman had a beautiful face. She had bright neon green eyes and appeared to be the same age group as Kakashi and Shin.

"How did you know we were here?" Naruto asked.

"I'm psychic." She answered.

"Really?"

"Nah. I saw your reflections in the window."

She pointed to the window behind her. There were the reflections of all of them shining brightly from the sun.

"Oh." Naruto said embarrassed.

"I'm Kimiko, the Genkage of the village."

The chuunin and their former sensei bowed in respect.

"Please take a seat." She moved towards her desk and sat down in her chair. Kakashi and the chuunin sat in the chairs in front of the desk. Yume and Shin sat on the side.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here from such a great distance?"

The chuunin nodded.

Kimiko's expressions changed. Her face became serious and even sad. She looked as though she had seen many things she didn't want to have witnessed.

She sighed. "About a week ago, important documents were stolen from our library."

"What were they?" asked Kakashi.

"They were scrolls that contain important information on the village and the ninjas of the village."

"But why were such important things like that in a library?" Naruto said without thinking.

"Stop being so disrespectful!" Sakura hit him upside his head.

"It's quite okay. Many have asked the same question." Kimiko said. "The thing about the library is that it has three parts to it. One part is open to the public. The second is open only to genin and chuunin. The third is open only to the Genkage and jounin elites. That section is where the scrolls were in when they were stolen."

"So what happened after that?" Sasuke asked.

"One of our elites, Kasumi, -you saw her downstairs- caught him in the act of leaving and send out the alarm." "We caught up with him when we were attacked and he escaped with his accomplices." She knelt her head on her enlaced fingers. "What made it worse is that he was an ex-elite of this village."

"So why you need us?" Sakura asked.

Kimiko got out her seat and went to the window again.

"I presume you're familiar with the organization that goes by name Akatsuki?" she asked.

Their eyes widen as they heard her question. Sakura and Kakashi's eyes looked to Naruto and Sasuke. They, unfortunately, had encountered the organization on more than one occasion. Naruto and Sasuke especially.

"Well, it turns that they're the ones who are connected in the stealing of the scrolls." "And this isn't their first time coming here. Two of them were here just 2 year ago, trying to kidnap one of my daughters, in hopes of ransom and bribery into our government power and our trade routes."

"Why would they come here?" asked Kakashi.

"Hideaki." Yume answered dully. The chuunin looked at her. Her stance was drooped, much different from earlier.

"Who's Hideaki?" asked Sakura.

"Hideaki," Kimiko began to say, "Is the one who actually stole the scrolls from the third section. He originally was an elite ninja of this village until he was arrested and went to trial."

"Why?" asked Naruto.

"He arrested for conspiracy against the village, and other charges." She replied. "It was the day he stood trial that I found out he was actually a member of Akatsuki the whole time he was here. A sleeper cell for the one named Sasori."

"You think the reason for the theft is revenge?" asked Sasuke.

"Maybe so."

"Who were his accomplices?" asked Kakashi.

"Yume." Kimiko said as she sat back down.

Yume retrieved the folders from Kimiko and gave each of them a folder. Inside were sketches and pictures and possible info of four men. The first was a sketch and picture was of man with short and long banged black hair and brown eyes with glasses. The second was a sketch of a man with long black hair and red eyes. The third one was a blonde with long hair, blues and mouths on his hands. The last was of one with shark like features.

Naruto and Sasuke shook as they looked at the pictures. They knew who the last three were. But the first one was a mystery to them.

"First picture is Hideaki. He's the traitor." "I think you know who the other two are."

"Itachi and Deidara." Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

"And Kisame." Naruto added.

"But they're dead." Sakura said. "Last we checked, Kisame killed himself to avoid capture and…"

"I killed Itachi and Deidara." Sasuke finished.

"I don't know much about the fish man or the one that makes bombs," Kimiko continued on, "But the one with the long hair, Itachi, he's been here before. Many times." 

"What?" Naruto and Sasuke shouted.

"I assumed that Tsunade told you that chuunin came here on occasions. Itachi was one of them."

Sasuke stared at the picture. His eyes widen as he took in the information.

Yume noticed and looked at Sasuke with concern. As did the rest of his team.

"He was an excellent ninja." Kimiko continued. "I allowed him to come to the village as he pleased. On one occasion, I even met the Uchiha family."

Sasuke stood up when heard the last comment. "You did?"

Kimiko nodded her head. "Yes, but you were still very young, so you probably wouldn't remember. I'm sorry if this comes as a shock to you."

Kakashi gently pushed Sasuke back into his chair. "What do you wants us to do?"

"I need you to…no… _this village_ needs you to receive the scrolls by any means necessary or… everyone in this village will be at risk. The info it contains is too vital in keeping us and the other nin undercover safe. If it gets into the wrong hands; who knows what could be of us and some of the other villages."

"Don't sweat it." Naruto said, flexing a muscle. "We'll get those scrolls back and save the village." "You can count on us –ttebayo!"

"Naruto's right." Sakura agreed. "We'll protect it. Just leave it to us."

"We assure you that this village will be safe." Sasuke replied, finally calmed and collected. "Kakashi and us can handle this."

"Thank you." Kimiko replied as she bowed to them but she kinda shrugged away coyly. "There's just one thing…"

"What's that?" the chuunin asked.

"I'm not part of this mission." Kakashi said nonchalantly. "This mission only called for you three. Not me."

"**Excuse me? What did you mean?" **The chuunin stood up from their seats.

Kimiko sighed. "In order to do this mission, a ninja from _this village_ must lead it." "Kakashi knew that from the start."

"HE DID?" Their eyes turned to Kakashi.

"Uhh… surprise?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Naruto said angrily.

"Tsunade told me to have Kimiko tell you."

_(Flashback)_

_Kakashi walked in Tsunade's office. Tsunade is sitting at her desk._

"_You wanted to meet?" he asked her._

"_Yes." She said. "I have an assignment I need for you to go to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. You are meeting right?"_

"_I was on my way there." Kakashi replied. "But being late won't bother them. So what is it about?"_

"_Sit down." She motioned with the waving of her hand._

_Kakashi sat down in the chair front of Tsunade's desk._

"_Today, I was informed that we got a distress call from Gensougakure." Tsunade said._

"_Gensougakure?" Kakashi asked. "Hmmm…We haven't heard from them in years."_

"_I know." She sighed rather uneasily as she handed him the file._

"_So what's happened to them?"_

_Tsunade face darkened. "They were attacked."_

_Kakashi's face went in to shock. But changed back into its trademark calmness. _

"_How? Who did it?" he said calmly, even though still in shock._

"_Akatsuki." Tsunade replied. _

"_What? How…" He asked, looking up at the woman. "What happened?" _

"_Apparently, a rogue jounin stole some information scrolls and had Akatsuki backing him up. Comes to find out, he is one of them." She said frustrated._

"_So, you need them…why?" _

"_Kimiko requested that Team seven does this mission." Tsunade answered. 'I also own Kimiko a favor, but I'm not telling him.' She thought thinking to that situation in FT _

"_Okay. Me and the other three will be ready by tomorrow." Kakashi replied and started his wt to the door._

"_That's good." She replied. "But there is one other thing about the mission I think you should know." _

_Kakashi eyed the Fifth suspiciously. "Yes. And that would be…" _

"_You're not on the mission." She began fixing the papers on her desk._

_Kakashi tilted his head. "Excuse me?" _

_Tsunade sighed. "You're not in charge of this mission." _

"_I'm not?" Kakashi asked. "What about Yamoto?" _

_She continued to fix her papers, "Nope. She specifically asked for those three. No Yamoto, No Sai. No You._

"_Okay." He was still in disbelief. _

"_And besides." She continued to say; "The village has assign to the mission to a jounin from the village, who has a better understanding of the mission and knows the areas of the village."_

"_So who is this jounin who will be leading my chuunin' mission?" he asked. 'And here I thought she did this to spite me.'_

"_This mission will be led by…"_

"**KAKASHI SENSEI!"**

Naruto and Sakura's yelled woke Kakashi out of his flashback.

(Sorry can't be spoiling the story now can I? =P)

"Yeah." He said, scratching his head and smiling. "You guys were requested for the mission, not me."

The chuunin sweat dropped and sighed. "So who is leading the mission? Where is this person?" asked Sakura.

"They're right there." Kimiko said, pointing in the direction of the two masked Anbu, Yume and Shin.

"One of them?" Naruto in turn asked.

"Yup." She then smiled slyly. "And just to test your skills…can you guess which one?" _This should be interesting…_

"Hmmmm…"

The chuunin stood up and walked over to the two masked Nins. The Nins stood up as well. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sasuke looked at Yume and Shin.

Personally, they couldn't tell which was which. They could only go by their height since everything else was concealed.

Of course, height only helped very little.

The said Shin was as tall as Kakashi. But that didn't mean he was it. Yume, on the other hand, was taller than Naruto and Sakura was in a battle with Sasuke to be taller than the other.

"This is so obvious." Sakura said. "Uhh…yeah!" Naruto followed after Sakura. "This jounin for this is…"

They both pointed to Shin in a quick motion. "HIM!"

_Idiots… _Sasuke preferred to stay out of this.

Shin heaved a sigh as he took off his ABNU mask.

Sakura blushed deeply as they saw the face of Shin. _He's hot! Of course, no way near my boys…_

Shin had hazel short semi-spiky hair and grey eyes. His face had a young look to it, despite his known age; much like Kakashi's.

"Did we get it right?" Naruto asked to Kimiko. "Is it him?"

"No." Sasuke answered this. "It isn't him."

"WELL WHO ASKED YOU?" Naruto yelled.

"But he does have a point." Their attention went to Kimiko. "Shin is not it."

Suddenly Yume went down on one knee and bowed. "I am."

The chuunin turned around to see Yume in her position. "I am Shinkirou Yume of Gensougakure's elite jounins and I will be honored to lead you in this mission."

"Nice intro and everything Yume." Kimiko said waving her hand. "But I think it would better if you removed the mask."

"That you are right."

Yume got up and took the mask off her face but still had it cover her face. She then finally removed the mask from in front of her face.

"She's a girl!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Yume.

Now that the mask was off, seeing her was easier. Yume had milky pale skin, much like Sasuke's with light pink cheeks and lips. Her eyes were almond shaped with dark violet eyes that were a little lighter around the iris. Her face gave off the appearance of being younger than they assumed, especially seeing everything with her long hair and bangs and her slender and lean structure. Sakura didn't even want to notice the bust that was twice her own.

"Well I'm not a boy." Yume said, smirking with her hand at her hip.

"No that what I meant!" said Naruto, as he stepped back and waved his arms.

"She can't be the leader of the mission." Sakura yelled at Kakashi. "She's our age."

"Excuse you." Yume pouted as her hands found its way to her hips and her cheek stained pink. "I just happen to be nineteen! Therefore I am older than you."

The chuunin sweatdropped as the words came out Yume's mouth.

"Uh Yume, eighteen and nineteen are only a year apart." Naruto commented.

"Oh." Yume scratched the back of her head. "I forget, but you guys aren't eighteen yet so I'm still older. SO there!"

"But Yume san, you just turned 19." Shin commented, "It's only been a month since January 1st."

Yume turned to him, "Shin san, thank you, because I really needed that to be mentioned."

"Kakashi." Sasuke spoke. "Are you sure this is our leader? She seems too dim-witted, even more than Naruto. And that's saying something." Sasuke had remembered how easily Yume fell on the way there and twitched when he also remember how she pushed him.

Both Naruto and Yume comically fall over after hearing Sasuke's insult. Sakura didn't help as she seem to agree with what he said.

"DON'T PUT ME IN THIS YOU ASSHOLE!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke who just folded his arms and ignored.

_I knew this would happen. _Yume sighed as she sweatdropped.

"Despite her appearance Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura." Kakashi calmly stated against the chuunin protests and the subtle glare he was getting for Yume for that comment. "Yume is one of the top jounin of her village and some of the best around."

Yume nodded in agreement with that and forgave him.

"Yes." Kimiko said, "Yume is perfect for the mission, she knows more about this than other ninja in this village. That and there will be others that will join you along the way. Yume will explain more once I update her."

"Thank you, Lady Kimiko." Yume bowed.

"I would hope that you guys will not give Yume any trouble during the mission, alright?" Kakashi question as he stared at his chuunin. Giving each any eye that foretold consequences of unpleasantness.

"Yes Kakashi sensei." They said defeated.

"Good." His attention went to Yume. "You can take over now. Bye."

With that Kakashi, and with Shin following him, walked out the door. He looked at the door and smiled slightly rather oddly.

_Good luck. I can tell you'll need it. All four of you._

_-X-_

Their attention went from the door, back to the issue that laid before them. Yume.

The chuunin didn't know what to think. Naruto didn't see Yume as a problem. Unlike Sasuke and Sakura. **Especially Sakura and Sasuke.**

_This is- just great. _Sakura looked at Yume, who smiling and gave a small wave._ She's girl near our age. Who knows what she's planning to do with Sasuke or…even Naruto!_

Sasuke was certainly skeptical of the girl. How could someone that dimwitted even be a jounin? Even more, leader of a mission as dangerous as this? She's only a year older than them. _And why the hell did she push me?_

The only thing Naruto was thinking of was, _Is my ramen okay in my bag? When can I get to it, I'm hungry…_

"Oi, Genkage." Sasuke turned to face Kimiko. Both Sasuke and Sakura went up to Kimiko. "Is she really the head of this mission?"

Sasuke wasn't one for jokes. Especially on a mission like this.

"I assure you two; Yume is among the best of our village." Kimiko said with a smile.

_Then I guess I should worry for this village if she's one of the best… _thought Sasuke and Sakura. Their glance went to Yume, who was talking to Naruto.

"Genkage. Are you positive?" Sakura spoke this time.

"Her appearance may contradict her abilities, but regardless of that she is the best for this mission."

Kimiko then laced her fingers adding, "I should know, I trained her most of her life."

"Yeah…sure…" Sakura still wasn't sure.

Kimiko sensed the insecurity of the two nin. Her face darkened slightly. "I personally don't see what's wrong with Yume. Unless you two are doubting my judgment…"

She rose slightly out her chair. "You're not questioning my decision are you?"

It was amazing how well Kimiko could resemble Tsunade when it came to intimidation.

Amazing and scary.

"No, no, no, of course not." Sakura replied through a forced smile. "Well just wanted to make sure." She laughed weakly and defeated as Kimiko sat back down.

"Good." Kimiko said smiling. "Yume will go deeper into the mission's detail." She shooed them off by the wave of her hand.

Defeated and slightly traumatized, Sakura and Sasuke walked back to Yume and Naruto. Naruto had been laughing and seemed already comfortable with Yume as the head.

"One question?" Naruto said and got Kimiko's attention, "Do you know Tsunade obaasan?"

"Oh her…" she replied, "Let's just say, she owes a few favors. Tell her hi next time you see her."

"Ok." Naruto replied. _Why do I have a feeling Fuzen no Tokai has something to do with this?_

Yume's attention went the two returning nin, "Do you guys get everything cleared up?"

"Uh yea." Sasuke replied.

"I need you to wait out there for a bit, I have to something real quick." Yume said.

As they walked to the door, Sasuke –and Sakura- noticed how Yume made an effort to avoid touching Sasuke as he went by.

Once gone, Yume turned to Kimiko. "Hey okaasan." She said. "I have the report for the mission. It wasn't an easy. That was so…touchy." She shivered a bit.

Kimiko sighed, "At least you handled it well. But I think you're acting weird around that Uchiha guy."

"Really?" She replied, "Haven't even noticed."

"You're lying but I'll let it slide because he's a little mouthy." Kimiko replied. "Knock him down a couple of pegs while he's here." She smiled. "Good luck on the mission, here's a list of who will help once they finish with their assignment and the headbands. Yuma said she wanted to welcome you home so be careful."

"Will do." Yume replied, grabbing the headbands. "Later."

Outside the door, Naruto sat on the ground, Sasuke leaned on the wall and Sakura folded her arms. The silence was killing Naruto since Sasuke was his usual 'something up the butt self' while Sakura was thinking really hard and tapping her fingers along her arm.

"She seems nice." Naruto said to break the silence. Naruto was just looked with a glare and he rolled his eyes. "Why do I bother?"

The door opened and Yume walked out.

"Before I forget." She walked to the chuunin. She extended her palms as the chuunin looked at her confused.

"I need you head protectors. You have to use the village's."

"Why?" Sasuke questioned. "We always have our own on other missions."

"Well this mission is unlike any other missions." Yume stated. "I will explain on the way."

Sasuke scowled, but did as he was told. Followed by the others soon after.

In exchange for taking their protectors, Yume gave them the Gensou village's head protectors. -Which has the same symbol as the one on the Genkage's doors.-

Yume nodded her head in approval and escorted the Konoha nin out of the building and into the streets and the village.

-x-

"Yume, why are we wearing these and not our own?"

Naruto questioned her as they walked through the now crowded streets of Gensou.

The village once again reminded them of their own home. The people seemed nice and talkative. The people even waved their way now and then.

"Because." Yume whispered, "The villagers don't know everything about the attack or what was stolen."

"So?" Sakura asked. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is that whenever ninjas from another village comes here, usually it means something is wrong or trouble is on the upraise. I mean, not everyone knows everything that happens in the village- "in a way to protect them" she quoted as she saw the faces made at her by the nin- "but they're not stupid. They'll know when something is up."

"You seem to know a lot for someone your age." Sakura commented, eyeing the girl.

Yume just smiled. She scratched the back of her head. "Well when your mother's the Genkage and you're a potential for next in line, you have to know things like that."

They thought for a moment, until they caught what Yume said. _Wait… What?_

"KIMIKO IS YOUR MOTHER?" Sakura yelled as she pointed a shaky finger at Yume.

"UHHH… surprise?" Yume blinked, not seeing the big deal.

_Okay. Now I really think something is wrong_. Sasuke thought. But it would explain why Kimiko was a little ticked off when we kept questioning her about Yume.

"You're going to be the next Genkage?" Naruto spoke in a strained meek voice.

Yume nodded. In a span of half of a second, Naruto flung himself onto Yume, hugging her and laughing with excitement.

_There he goes again… _Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto act much like himself. They were expecting Yume to react the same way to Naruto as she did Sasuke and to throw him off. Though honestly, they hoped that it would happen. That way, Naruto would start disliking Yume and be in the boat with the rest of his team.

But that didn't happen. Instead of shoving him off her and or shrieking, Yume just laughed and get along with it. She laughed and Naruto laughed as well. It was as if she was enjoying it.

It was the among the few times Naruto never got hit for doing something they would classified as well…Naruto. Which made them madder since Naruto wasn't pushed like Sasuke and Sakura was more confused about her intentions now more than ever.

"That is so cool!" exclaimed Naruto as he let go of his grip of a dizzy Yume.

"It's nothing really." Yume said after regaining her equilibrium. "Kimiko thinks I have the potential for it. It would be fun to help her keep order, but the training is hell."

"What's the training like?" Naruto tried to ask but Sakura stopped him.

Sakura glared at her. "I have a question Yume." Sakura said as she walked you to Yume.

"Yea? What is it Sakura?"

Sakura, instead of answering immediately, she looked at Yume's hair and eyes. And then at her body.

Yume gave a confused to Naruto and Sasuke and then Sakura. "Why are you staring at me like that for?"

Sakura didn't answer for a while. Sakura had an unnoticeable scowl on her face.

_She's almost prettier than me…what is her angle? But more importantly…_

"How is Lady Kimiko your mother?" Sakura asked.

Sakura gained a little confidence when Yume winced and asked "Why would you ask something like that for?"

She continued on. "I mean you look nothing like Kimiko. She's have some of a tan than you do. Different hair and eye color even facial structures. You even call her Kimiko instead of 'mother' or 'mom'."

Yume blushed red at Sakura's heavy questioning. She then sighed.

"If must know, I take after my father." Yume said, "I lost him to a mission and I'm the only thing that's a remaining of him since I have his eyes and hair. And I called her Kimiko to be professional and that way when I get and reviews missions, I'm doing things on my own merit. It's hard you know."

She pulled one of her bangs back. "You're the Kage's kid and suddenly people think that you'll get the special treatment with missions and other things. It was bad before being a ninja. Now every time I achieve something I have to get the third degree on whether or not being the Kage's daughter made it easier."

She started to tear up a bit. "I just want to be recognized for me. Is that too much to ask for?"

What that last line she walked ahead as if to cry without them looking at her. Sakura felt guilty and a little uneasy while Sasuke shook his head. Naruto looked at them and sighed and ran after Yume.

When he caught up her, she gave him the victory sign and smiled. Naruto blinked before he gave her his biggest smile and snickered.

"Good one." Naruto whispered, "You had me going."

"I'm a ninja." Yume replied. "Acting is a requirement."

She turned to the other two, "Come on guys. Relax, we have to get going and you're forgiven."

Sakura twitched and Sasuke just walked towards them after realizing that they had been tricked. "I really dislike this girl."

About 5 minutes later, Yume stopped walking.

"What's wrong Yume?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing actually." she replied.

"Then why did we stop?" Sakura asked rather bleakly.

"I just realized I have to make a quick stop. I hope you guys don't mean, but I could use the help." She said. She then took a left turn at a building. Curious, Naruto and the others followed her.

**TBC**

Originally, this fanfic was a SasuOC but since that's no longer the case, thing had to be changes around. Thanks reading and please review. It helps improve and I would like some feedback.

27


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Market Rumble**

"This is a…uhh..." Sakura looked to Naruto

"Wow…" Naruto looked to Sasuke

"Hn…?" Sasuke looked ahead towards Yume

They didn't know what to make of this. From the screams of purchases and vendors from left to right to the crowded areas filled with potential buyers and sellers. Their thoughts were the same: _Why the hell did Yume bring us here?_

"What are we doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Well." Yume began to say as she scratched her cheek. "I haven't been in the village or home for a while. I was on another mission before this one see. I'm pretty sure that the food at my house is probably spoiled by now or there is none there at all and I knew you guys would be hungry after your trip. So, here we are."

Why are we going to your house for?" Sakura asked. As if she needed another reason to worried about Yume being so close to them. Adding their living situation would make it unbearable for her.

"Less questions, more shopping. Come on." Yume said as she walked ahead.

She walked about three steps before she turned back to see that the other three didn't budged. _Oh great. Like I really need this... this early…_

"Why aren't you guys coming?" The others looked at her. Sakura looked at her with hidden aggravation. Naruto just had a confused look, wondering why the other two were holding him back. And Sasuke's face… Yume couldn't tell the emotion it expressed.

Okay this was getting her no way. She then thought of something to get them over to her.

"If this is about the food, don't worry about it, I'm paying for it." She began to say. "It's okay, I paying for it so it's _free_."

All it took was the word 'free' to get Naruto's attention. "Can you get us whatever we want?" He shouted before being slapped on the back of the head by Sakura.

_There's some progress…_ "Breakfast, and lunch, and dinner. Even dessert and snacks."

Naruto turned to the others, most stubborn of his squad. "Come on."

"There's something odd about her." Sasuke said. "Something is off. I don't like it."

"Me neither." Sakura agreed. She stood next to Sasuke, hopeful to get Naruto to come beside them.

"What can be wrong with a girl who's paying for us to eat and stay here?" Naruto asked.

When they didn't answer, he huffed and ran over to Yume. They watched as Naruto was once again greeted kindly by their so-called captain.

Sakura looked at Naruto with look that was clearing saying that Naruto would pay for his apparent treason. She stayed on that until she heard Sasuke sighed in defeat and began to walk over to Yume.

"No! Wait Sasuke," Sakura grabbed his wrist. "Why are you going over there for? You said yourself you don't trust her."

"Whether I like her or not, it doesn't matter." Sasuke replied before looking at Naruto and Yume. "And Naruto seems to like her_-as if I can trust his judgment too well-_ and she is our captain for this mission. Case closed."

Sakura watched in despair as Sasuke left to join Naruto and Yume, who gave him the same kind greeting she gave Naruto. This in turn confused Sasuke; though he didn't show it.

She sighed in her own defeat and ran slowly over the others.

Yume decided to make things fair for everyone and to start on the right foot. In doing this, she allowed Sasuke to choose breakfast, Naruto lunch, and Sakura dinner for the next couple of days until she would return to the market. And all them snacks and dessert.

So far everything was going very well. Each of them was satisfied with what Yume got them. Though Sakura and Sasuke would never tell her they were. Especially Naruto-as Yume ended buying from the nearest Ramen stand twenty bowls of various ramen flavors. Sasuke's only concern was that Yume never paid for the food until she explained to them that whenever she was on a mission, she got a discount on supplies and any other additional prices was put on a tab. It seemed that Sasuke spent most of the time shopping questioning Yume and she spent it answering correctly each question that she knew the answer to. Much to Sakura's dislike as she still couldn't figure out the other girl's angle.

Everything was fine and dandy, until they heard shrill screech yells that made the three chuunin' hair stand on end. Sasuke went pale, from experience. He remembered the yells and shrill squeals of the rabid fangirls that usually chased him from Konoha.

Oh, the pain_…_

"Oh God. Not them." The three turned to see Yume wince and pale at the face. "Let's go now!" She grabbed her bags and began pushing them forward.

"What?" Naruto asked, "Who are them?"

"Believe me. You don't want to know."

"_YUME!" _

"Dammit! Too late." _Kami help me._ Yume stopped pushing and looked at the ground. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at Yume. What was making her so eager to get away?

It became apparent when two girls walked-no…ran- up to them. Looking like identical twins, though it was apparent that they were not related. One with blonde hair in a short ponytail and green blue eyes and another with red/brown hair tied down and blue green eyes wearing nearly identical skirts, leggings, tank tops and sandals.

"YUME!" the girls said she they hugged her. Discreetly Yume cringed. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine." Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura noticed that Yume's tone had changed as it was no longer energetic.

Naruto and Sasuke also noticed that even though the girls were talking to Yume, they constantly looked over to them.

"Introduce us." the blonde said.

"Yea. Don't be so mean." the red head pouted. It was obvious from there their tone and Yume's reaction to them that they weren't friends. At best guess, they were stuck together a couple of times.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura." Yume said lethargically. "The ditzy blonde is Ami and the ditzier red head is Emi. They are chuunin and we graduated the same year." "Ami and Emi, the blonde is Naruto, the pink hair is Sakura and the one with black hair is Sasuke.

"Yume, you are such the kidder." They laughed they pushed past Yume, shoving her with their shoulder-Yume rubbed it as they walked past- and Sakura to get to Naruto and Sasuke, pulling the boys a few step from the other two.

"Hi. I'm Ami" she said to Sasuke, while Emi introduced herself to Naruto.

Sasuke stood there quiet, glaring. Meanwhile, Naruto had manages to escape from the other girl's vice like grip. Not getting the hint to leave, the girls continued on badgering them.

"We're 19." Ami said to the boys. "What age are you guys?" Pushing Ami out the way, Emi spoke. "Where are you guys from? Are you from another village or something? Cuz, I would have _definitely_ noticed you guys if you were from here."

Yume and Sakura watched as the girls questioned Naruto and Sasuke, moving them further way from them. Anger built in Sakura as she watched the girls practically threw themselves on Naruto and Sasuke. Her anger reached its peak when the girls latched themselves to Naruto and Sasuke's arm, pushing their chest against them.

_That's it..._ Sakura was ready to pound those girls to gods know where; when she heard bags dropped and saw Yume walk past her and in front of them. She shivered as she caught a feel of an ominous aura change in Yume's chakra. "Yume?"

"Wait by the store; I'll be back there shortly." She said calmly that even Sakura followed the order.

While Ami and Emi were in the middle of asking to 'hang out together', Yume grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and pulled them into the safety of her custody.

"Yume, what are you doing?" the girls asked, visibly upset.

"We have to leave..." Yume plainly replied. "I guess you'll just have to find us at another time or find some other guys to hit on. I'm sure the FT is filled with willing guys. Let's go Naruto and Sasuke."

Yume pushed the boys away from the girls and went to collected Sakura along the way. Now getting what she had insinuated, Ami and Emi's faces turned red.

"Hey who do you think you are calling us whores?" Emi yelled.

She and Ami then snickered when they remember something as Yume ignored them.

"You're one to talk Yume," Ami said louder to make sure that Naruto and Sasuke could hear her as well, "Long hair, slim body like you had before. Just like back then."

Yume started to move her fingers in a frantic way before they clenched. Naruto notices since her fingers were holding onto his shoulder.

"We may flirt" Emi retorted, "but at least we never did anything with our own mother's-"

Before the next few words could leave either's mouth; Yume was in front of them, covering their mouths with a tight grip. The girls moaned and squeal but nothing other than muffled speech was heard. She turned around and noted how the three were looking at her. They looked at her, but since her back to them, they couldn't see how she was restraining the girls.

"What were they about to say?" Naruto asked.

"Oh nothing," Yume shook her head. "I'll going to have a talk with these, two. You guys go wait by the fruit stand over there."

They looked behind and saw what she was referring to. It wasn't too far from them. Just a 3 to 5 minute walk.

"But why…" Sasuke started to question but was interrupted.

Yume turned her head to the side and eyed. Sasuke, the closest, could see how dark her eye looked compared to earlier.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice a little chilly, "I'm ordering you to wait for me by the stand."

They nodded and turned to walk to the gate but Sasuke decided to lag behind, walking slowly and kept within earshot of them. He saw Yume crouch down a little, and snorted coldly.

"You know the rules," he heard her said, her voice filled with an ice like venom as she spoke low. "We don't speak of_ that_, we don't breathe a word of _that_ and we certainly don't bring _that_ up in this kind of matter."

She cracked her neck, "Now if I hear that you're talking about it again, I will see to it that the next missions you receive will be in the FT where you will work as the inexpensive pieces of tricks that you are."

Though Sasuke couldn't see Yume's eyes, she could Ami's and Emi's and they looked terrified and about ready to piss themselves.

"Now do we have an understanding?" Yume asked the girls and the girls nodded.

"Good. Now get!" She replied throwing the girls off. They ran past Sasuke and eventually Naruto and Sakura as Yume stood there and heavily panted, still cracking her neck and shoulder.

"Yume," Sasuke said, stepping forward. "Is everything okay?"

Yume rubbed her neck, not yet facing Sasuke. "I thought I told you to go wait with the other by the gate." She spoke in the same voice she threatened the girls with.

She turned around, her eyes were normal and she had her hands at her hip and cheeks slightly puffed. "If you don't listen to me now, how am I supposed to get anything done during the mission?"

She walked past him and grabbed her bags, humming a little. Sasuke was trying to collect what he had just seen. Because he knew he just saw Yume severely threaten those girls and she acted as if she didn't do such a thing.

"What were they-" Sasuke started to ask but was stopped when Yume faced him. Her eyes were normal but were off.

"Don't worry about them, they wouldn't be a problem." She said, "And sorry about what happened in the cave. I was still a little jumpy from my mission and it was a reflex. "

Sasuke noticed that she redirected the question but decided not to question it any further. He put one hand in his pocket while the other carried his bag.

"Sure, it's fine." He said, accepting the apology, but he gave a quick glare. "Just don't let it happen again. Ever."

He walked off to meet the other two. Yume blinked before smirked, "I can live with that."

"What happened?" asked Naruto. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Yume smiled. "Me and the girls just had a little talk. They won't be bothering you two anytime soon." Before anymore question could be asked, she wanted ahead of the rest of them.

Sakura wasn't satisfied. Something went down and she wanted to know what it was. And since she couldn't see nor get from the main source…she decided to get it from a nearer and _more tolerable _source.

As they walked from the vendors and shops, the buildings were no longer there and trees and forestland present. Sakura took this time to find out what happened.

"Sasuke." Sakura called in a low whisper.

"…" Sasuke was too busy thinking of theories or at least to explain what happen to hear Sakura. Persistent, she decided to do the one thing she knew would get his attention. It bugged the hell out of him, she and Naruto discovered

Sure, it meant the chance that he would not talk for another few weeks should it backfire. But it was a chance she was willing to take.

In the sultriest voice and the biggest pouty face she conjured up, she asked again.

"Sasuke_-kun_" She emphasized the suffix dramatically, "Can please tell me and Naruto what happened with Yume and those trampy girls?" She fluttered her eyes and clung to him for an added effect.

Knowing that: a) he would get her back for this; b) She would never stop -damn her persistence-; and c) that telling them was going to happen sooner or later, Sasuke sighed and decided to tell.

"Ok fine." Naruto and Sakura, while discreetly walked at a normally slow pace, listened in to Sasuke.

"Yume came and got us from those girls and told wait with you near the main gate. And she made some comment about the girls going to the FT which I guess is the Fuzen no Tokai if they wanted guys to flirt with.

Naruto nodded his head. "I was there for that."

"But what made her make you guys leave?" Sakura asked.

"First to get us away from the girls but then…One of them was about to say something about Yume and what she did with a thing of her mother's…and then Yume cut them off and told us to leave."

"Okay so what happened then when you were still there?" Naruto asked,

Sasuke bend lower and closer. "She threatened them. She told them that what they were about to say was forbidden to say or to talk about. She even said that if they even mentioned it, their missions would be nothing them working in Fuzen as cheap tricks.

Yume looked behind her. She smiled calmly as they quickly looked at her and waved sheepishly at her. _They must think I'm stupid…_

"Hurry up guys." She yelled to them. She turned her back as she smirked to herself. But also couldn't shake the feeling of being worried especially since Sasuke had been in earshot of what she said.

"Ok Yume." Sakura said. _**Bitch! –Inner Sakura was punching the stuffing out of a dummy that looked like Yume.**_

She then turned back to Sasuke. "Ok, Sasuke continue…"

"They ran off and Yume was still talking in this weird icy tone. Then just like that, she was back to herself and apologized for what happened in the cave on the way here."

"That's it?" Naruto and Sakura asked.

"Yea. I tried to ask about they were talking about but she just disengaged it and told me that they wouldn't be bothering me any time soon."

"Let's get moving." Sakura said, "Before she starts to notice we're not behind her and talking."

The other two nodded and started a fast paced walk to catch up with Yume. Naruto looked over at Sasuke from his left.

"Hey Sasuke, I have a question for you." Naruto said.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"When Yume told us to leave, I left but didn't you?"

First once, Sasuke couldn't answer right away. He knew he didn't leave because he left that weird aura that came from Yume. There was something off about her. He knew it.

He looked at Yume for a quick moment before he answered. "I don't really know why. I think I stayed because, like you guys felt, there was something about Yume when she came over to us. I wanted to know what it was. And guys…"

He drew them in closer. "I think we need to watch out for Yume, I think she may be hiding something."

"Here we go again," Naruto sighed. "What is with you guys trying to find something wrong with her?"

"Because there is!" Sakura said. Sasuke folded in his arms in way that said the same.

"Whatever." Naruto said as he ran to catch up with Yume. Sasuke followed soon after. Then Sakura.

They walked until they reached a gateway that ended the village buildings and started the forest. Yume heard them stop walking and sighed as she turned to face the three.

"What's wrong?" she asked. The three looked at her as if it was obvious.

"Where are you taking us?" Sakura asked sternly.

"Home." Yume happily chirped. They noticed the happier tone in her voice. It was as if the events that Sasuke told them of never happened.

"But Yume," said Naruto, "You're leading us into the forest. The village is back there."

"Oh, about that." She turned to face them. "You see, I don't live in the village. I live on the outskirts."

_Suspicious…_ Sasuke and Sakura eyed Yume. Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"Oi, Yume-san!" Naruto called out, running to Yume. _This oughta get their attention…_

"Naruto, please just call me Yume." She said patting him on his head. Saying san makes me sound so… old."

Naruto and the other two sweatdropped. _Okay…_

"Hey guys come over here for a sec," Yume said, "I got an idea."

The three chuunin came to her. "Yes?"

"Since we're near my house," she started to say. "Let's make this interesting."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

An unusual glint formed in Yume's eye. The three discreetly shivered after caught themselves before it went any further.

"A race." She said.

"A what?" Sakura asked.

"A race." Yume said again, "From here to my house is a straight path, so why not race?"

"Why would we?" asked Sasuke. It was official. Sasuke looked at her. She has officially lost it.

"Because, the normal walk from here to there is soooo_ boring_." She emphasized the 'boring' with a heavy sigh, slouching down before straighten again. "But if we race, not only is it faster, but more fun."

"I'm in!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sure…" Sakura said. _That way if you just happen to trip…_

"Tch... like I want to be part of some stupid childish race…" Sasuke said, condescending Yume as he walked in front of the rest. Yume folded her hands and sighed as Naruto walked over to her.

"Please excuse Sasuke, Yume." Naruto apologized, "He has a permanent stick up his ass that I've been trying to get rid of since I met him." Yume giggled but still tried to hush Naruto.

Sasuke's vein in the back of his head pop up, becoming visible to all. "I heard that Naruto…" he said in what sounded like through gritted teeth. Naruto looked at Sasuke from Yume's side and stuck out his tongue.

"Yea, it was meant for you to hear it. Now take the advice and stop acting like such a priss!"

"Cool it you two." Yume said. "You can kill each other during training."

"Come on, teme." Naruto yelled. "I thought you like challenges, ya big show-off."

"Didn't I said cut it out." Yume laughed, replying once more. "Come Sasuke, I guarantee it while be worth your time."

Sasuke walked back to them, slightly intrigued. "How so?" he asked Yume.

"Well…" Yume said as she began to think. "How about a wager? Whoever reaches our destination before I do, I'll give them whatever they want."

All three looked at her. Her face showed no form of deception and hesitation. She meant what she was saying.

"Anything?" Sakura asked.

"Anything."

"Really?" Naruto asked

Yume smirked. "Would I lie to you?"

"Ok, I'm in." Sakura reestablished.

"Same here." Naruto smiled.

"Sure…" Sasuke dully replied.

"Great." Yume replied. "The route to my house is a straight ahead. No turns or twists to be made. It's pretty straightforward. And to make things more fun…"

"Yea?" Sasuke asked.

"This only applies to me and me only, but if I am in the lead or fear I will be…"

The chuunin leaned in closer.

"You have my full permission to take me out by any means necessary." She finished with a smile.

_WHAT!_

"Wait, so you're we can attack you during the race," asked Naruto. "And only you?"

"Yup. It's you guys as a team vs. me."

"Are you sure?" asked Sasuke now.

"As my sensei told me when I first started out in training, "Come at me as if you want to kill me" or something around that. Now who's ready?"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura took in the info they were just giving. Yume, a girl that they just met, was giving them direct permission to kill her at will.

"I'm ready." Sakura replied. _This is perfect… I can knock her down a few pegs and make her see who she's dealing with her. Thanks for the chance… bitch._

"Ready when you are!" Naruto exclaimed. _What is Yume thinking? I know Sasuke wouldn't try as much, but Sakura…_

"Hn..." _What is this girl getting at? Allowing us to kill her when and if we want. What's her game...?_

"Ok then, the race will start from here and –like I said- it's a straight run from here to the finish line, my house. Just hang on a sec'."

First, she made a clone and gave the bags, they had collected to her. She transported, taking the bags with her.

Yume reached into the messenger bag she was carrying and pulled out a small portable radio CD player and a CD (AN: I'm sure something would be there if not, this is AU-ish so anything goes.)

Yume noticed the look she received when she pulled these things out from the other three. "What? You guys never race with music on?" she asked them. "It gets me excited and it's so much fun." She added with a giggle. The three looked at her with blank and confused faces.

Translation: _This girl is either slow or off her rocker. _

Yume stopped awkwardly. "Uhh…Okay then. Everyone in position."

As Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura took a position along Yume; Yume popped the CD into the player and pressed play. Immediately the sounds of preppy and childlike music escape into the air. Simply put: it was the kind of music that made Sasuke wanna gag and stomp the player into the ground, if he was that kind of person with no self control. And he wasn't.

_(Laugh)_

"Alright!" Yume chirped as she took a running stance. "On your mark-"

Naruto ready himself while Sasuke looked unconcerned.

"Get set-"

Sakura gripped a hidden kunai- just in case

_Yea. _

"GO!" All four of them sprinted as the song began.

The standing with as the following:

_First: Yume_

_Second: Sasuke_

_Third: Naruto beginning to come closer to second_

_Fourth: Sakura_

Yume proved to be very fast; much to the disappointment of Sasuke and especially Sakura who come not get close to her to exact out her plan.

_Oh Come and try to catch me_

_Oh Catch me if you can!_

_Oh Come and try to catch me_

_Oh Catch me if you can!_

The lyrics flew from the radio at Yume's side. It was the only way the chuunin even knew how close they were to her. Sasuke, hating the fact he was currently losing to a girl who even listened to this type of music, decided to enhance his running by pumping his soles with charka. The others followed the same suit. Each managed to catch up with each other and was gaining on Yume.

_Look out it's time the world is finding for a_

_New thing, it's time I got ahead_

_Keep thinking nothing is going to stop me_

_and I won't quit till I'm sitting on the top!_

Yume, on the other hand, was enjoying herself. _If only they knew the reason why I asked them to race for… oh well...-WOAH!_

Yume barely dodged a kunai thrown at her. She looked behind and saw her three students gaining on her. Sakura aimed and threw another kunai. Yume dodged once more.

_This girl is really out to get me. Desperate times call for desperate measures …_

Yume performed a few hand signs, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke and the others slowed down a little as they saw the smoke. They watched as three Yume's emerged from the cloud. One continued to ran straight on the path while the other two ran into the surrounding trees on each side.

"Sakura, take the left one. Naruto- the right one." Sasuke commanded.

"Hai!" Sakura and Naruto followed the other two into the trees.

_Never give up when the going gets rough_

_I know I'm going to make it through_

_To just try will never be enough_

_I'll show you there's nothing that I can't do!_

_This kid… isn't going to attack. Phew, that good to know. I hate to see his clone jutsu…or his Rasengan…_

Naruto was gaining on his Yume, but was a good meter or 3 behind her. He knew he could his shuriken or some jutsu to slow her down, but no made no attempt to. If he was going to beat, he was going to be it fairly. Besides, he didn't want her injured before they could train.

_Damn, this kid is going all out! Of all the ninja I have to challenge, it had to be the superiority complex pryofreak. Yikes! That one almost hit me…_

Sasuke, on the hand, had just unleashed his fireball jutsu. It, of course, missed her both times, causing him to speed up more.

While Sasuke and Naruto chased after their 'Yume', Sakura was more of tracking hers.

_Let's see… _Sakura readied her fists…

_Holy SHIT! Why is it that every time I do this almost every girl tries to kill me…? _Yume shouted in her head as she dodged a charka enhanced punch, breaking the tree limb into splinters instead of her.

"You do know I'm needed for this mission? Right Sakura?" Yume asked.

"You told to give it my all." Sakura replied. "So I am…"

Yume snickered. "Then come and get me…" _Bad idea but oh yea, let her get it out now…_

_Oh Come and try to catch me_

_Oh Catch me if you can!_

_Oh Come and try to catch me_

_Oh Catch me if you can!_

"Naruto," Yume called from in front of her. "You can try to attack me; it is part of the exercise…"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't wanna hurt you. And besides, I can beat with you speed alone!"

Yume laughed, sprinting a bit faster. "Let's see that then…"

Naruto smirked, and jumped, increasing his speed as he did so.

_It's so close I can almost taste it!_

_There's no way I'll ever look back!_

Somehow during the race, Sasuke and Yume ended up racing each other in the trees as well. Sasuke was closer to her than before, stopping the jutsus so that his chakra could be used in running.

Yume was enjoying the race jumping from limb to limb. She turned to see Sasuke behind her.

"Ready?" she called behind her.

Sasuke looked at her oddly, "For what?"

She just smiled, and started upwards. Sasuke followed the same suit. Following her until they reached the treetops above the forest.

_It's so hard but stopping's not an option_

Yume laughed loudly. She turned to run facing Sasuke. "Didn't I tell you this was going to be fun…?"

"You're not going to beat me…" Sasuke huffed, closing the gap between them...

Yume smiled. "I know…"

_I'm going to keep on, keep on cuz I believe in me!_

Just as Sasuke got closed enough, she leaned, falling into a gap in the tree. Sasuke followed, watching her freefall. The song had just ended its long note as she continued to drop.

_Is she crazy? _Sasuke thought to himself. He sprinted from branch while she continued her fall without any signs of stopping herself. _She even closed her eyes! _

_5…4…3…_ Yume counted down. _2…1…! _Opening her eyes, she turned upright, landed on a limb, just above the ground.

_Catch me, if you can!_

She turned back to Sasuke and winked at him before disappearing back on to the road.

Sasuke followed back onto the road, following Naruto and Sakura to come to his side a moment later. The other Yumes were in front.

"We're almost there!"

Along the side, the shape of a roof was forming. Not was now or never for the three.

"Sakura, do it!" Sasuke said. It was dirty but it had to be done. Making him listen to that music.

"With pleasure…" Sakura jumped and punched the ground, sending a ripple effect of uprooted ground.

The Yumes fell over from the ground shaking. It was just enough to give them the lead.

While they were happy were they finally in the lead, just as the house was coming, they were wondering why the song could still be heard coming from the front.

_Come on Come on Catch me now! Can you come and catch me can you now, you can't catch me anyhow!_

_Come on Come on Catch me now! Can you come and catch me can you now, you can't catch me anyhow!_

_Come on Come on Catch me now! Can you come and catch me can you now_

As they reached the front, they skidded to a stop, bumping each other as they did so and falling to the ground. They looked at the figure holding the radio and bags.

"No way…" Sasuke said.

"It…couldn't be…" Naruto said as well.

Sakura's mouth was wide opened in shock.

Silver head flickered in the light as dark eyes looked at them… "Congrats, you made it."

_Oh Catch me if you can! _Song stopped followed by an awkward silence.

Yume stood there, smiling, while the others had shocked and confused faces.

"How did you get so fast?" Naruto asked.

"Weren't you with the clones?" Sakura shouted.

"Speaking of clones, where are they?" Sasuke asked.

"Behind you." Yume said as she pointed her finger.

Looking behind themselves, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura looked up to the clones right behind them holding stopwatches.

"Sasuke finished the course in 3 minutes and 14 second." Said the first clone with much approval

"Naruto ties with Sasuke in finishing the course in 3 minutes and 14 seconds." Said the second one with a giggle.

"Sakura finishes last with 3 minutes 20 seconds." The third clone looks at Sakura, "Tough luck, _loser_."

It was apparently, she was still sore about being attacked the way she was.

"Thank you girls." Yume replied, as they disappeared.

"Wait, wait…" Naruto shook his head. "How were all three clones? Where were you?"

"Were you even in the race?" Sakura said, still steamed by the insult thrown at her by the clone.

Sasuke was eyeing Yume. Why hadn't he noticed that all three were clones and when did she teleport or escape them?

"Yes and no." Yume replied. "I was there in the beginning, but I never to actually planned finish with you. So I used the clones for you guys."

"That's why the smoke was so large." Sasuke finally said.

"You got it." Yume said, "I used to the smoke to teleport and wait for you guys."

"But why?" Sakura said, "If you weren't going to race, why did you have us race?"

Yume smirked, "Training."

"Huh?" the three said in unison.

"I wanted to see your speed and also to see what you would do in this situation. To have a time limit on something." Yume pointed out. "And I took the information of the race from the clones."

She pointed to Naruto, "You chose not to attack at all. Which was nice for a change, but remember you can't be that soft in training. There will be a time when you have to attack me. But you did very well." Naruto sheepishly smiled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sasuke," Yume then said, "You went on the offensive and knew when to stop in order to catch up with me. You even follow me –actually my clone- into a near death free fall. You were the closest to passing me. Impressive as expected." Sasuke gave a trademark 'Hn' and eyed Naruto in a way to silently tell him he was acting like a goof.

But you Sakura," Yume's voice was a little saddened and more serious, "You went on the offensive a little too far and too soon. You put too much emotion into it, and in turn, had clouded judgment. It won't help the mission if you can't control your emotions. I figured a pupil of Tsunade would know that. I'll have to work with you the most." Sakura said nothing and didn't nothing. She just hung her head.

Yume then smiled. "Come on, let's get inside." She took up her bags and looked at them.

Taking it as a lead, the others grabbed their bags and walked in front of her.

Naruto was very happy, getting appraised by Yume but still was scolded for not doing what ask of him. Sasuke was still eyeing Yume. Sure he did excellent. It was him he was talking about. But he was still outdone by her.

Sakura, on the other hand, was fuming. How dare she think she needed the most help? Who was she? She gave Naruto more praise and of course she gave Sasuke possibly the best review. That…ohhh…

Sakura's hands gripped the bags, the plastic crumpled under the pressure until she loosened them in awe. As did the others when they looked at the house.

They had realized that they never took a real look at the area nor the house. When they did, they were surprised by it. For someone that lived on their own, the house and area was very well kept. In front of them was a large house.

It had a traditional appeal to it, something Sasuke was use to from his own home. With exception that this house was larger in height, a three story building with a large porch in the front. It made with cherry wood and other structures that give it stability and a homely and nature feeling of beauty. Around the area was a large lake in the backgrounds of the house. The lake was pristine blue and light green from the vegetations that grew at the bottom of the lake. The dock looked recently retouched. Spaced out to a few yards away was a slight hill with a Sakura Tree thriving while at its right was a Weeping Willow. In the grass, some small blossoms grew around the area.

Yume looked at her home and sighed in content. She looked at the three nin. She smirked.

"You guys like it?" She said, "I retouched the house last year, but it is still the same from first year it was first built."

"It's really nice." Naruto said.

"It's different from what I expected." Sasuke replied.

Sakura remain quieted, not wanting to give Yume the pleasure of acknowledgement of the kind place she lived in. _I have to admit, the place is really nice._

"Thanks, my parent made it before I was born and now I use it."

Sasuke was about to question that comment, but Yume spoke before he could get his words out.

"You guys take the bags to the steps. I'll catch up in a bit." Yume said, grabbing a better hold of her bags. The nin nodded and walked up the stairs.

Naruto followed by Sasuke and then Sakura.

As Naruto passed the threshold, a ball above them dropped and popped colored confetti over his head mostly and the others scarcely. A track of applause started playing.

The three looked behind to Yume was grinning from ear to ear. "Congrats Naruto, you won the bet."

"I won…" Naruto said slowly. "But I thought I tied with Sasuke."

"The race yes." Yume nodded folding her arms before shaking her finger. "But remember the bet was the first to get to my house. And you were the first one to past the threshold so you automatically won the bet. So now whenever you want, you can get something from me. Word to the wise, save it for a really important time.

"Hey I thought that the race was part of training." Sakura said.

"Yes it was training." Yume replied. "But a bet's bet."

Naruto pointed to himself as to say 'really?" Yume nodded a 'yes' before Naruto started jumping on the steps.

"I beat teme! I beat teme!" he said, acting a little like Lee at the moment.

"About time." Sasuke commented, ruining the moment.

Naruto looked at his other teammate with a scowl. "Well not everyone can as perfect as the 'great' Uchiha Sasuke…"

Sasuke just smirked until Naruto mutter under his breath…

"_Or as girly and emo." _

Sasuke twitched at his comment. Naruto snickered while Sakura just sighed.

"Ok…" Yume said, she looked at the three. "How about we get inside now?"

Yume took out her keys and unlocked the door. She opened the door, pushing it open all the way. The others just peeked inside. From the outside, the room was dim from the lack of inside lighting except from the insufficient amount coming from the windows on the ceiling.

"Go in, nothing's going to attack you." She smiled. "Go on."

The three walked into the house and into what was the living room. Yume closed the door behind and went to walk in further.

But was stopped as the three were still near the front, not reaching the carpet.

"What are guys waiting for?" She asked.

They said nothing and just continued to look an upward direction.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Naruto and Sasuke pointed up to the second floor.

"Are those yours?" Sakura, her voice cracked a bit.

"What are mine?" Yume looked up, "What are you guys…talking…about…"

Yume trailed off as she saw what they were talking about. "Oh crap…"

On the second floor, three sets of eyes leered at them from above. One belonged to a cat.

Another to a black dog.

And the other belonged to what was keeping them from moving.

Its eyes were piercing neon green. Much larger than the other dog, it was hunched over as its fur bristled and it growled, bearing long white fangs.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at each other, unsure on whether to attack or not. Attacking could be bad, especially if it was a pet.

They had no time for further thought as the dog, if you could call it that jumped down from railing and sprinted over the first couch and made it over the second one…

Lunging at them with its teeth bore out in a biting position.

Yume groaned. "Aw Shit..."

**TBC**

**Author Note: **Anyone that is of Japanese descent and/or is fluent enough in Japanese please tell me if I'm using Fuzen no Tokai correctly as the translation for 'Sin City' I only took a 100 level class and to make sure I'm doing the language justice in using it in my story.

Also I'm working on two Valentine's Day one-shot for Naruto. Then I'll post up either a new chapter of YBTM or start up the spinoff I guess of this story 'Origin of the Mirage and Fan'

And 'Catch Me If You Can' belongs to Angela Via feature in 'Pikachu's Vacation' for the movie 'Pokemon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back'


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Here's we go guys. A new chapter. Remember, I like input so please read and review.**

Chapter 7: Home Sweet Home?

The large dog sprinted towards; its teeth bore at the three chuunin.

Naruto readied his kunai as Sasuke had his hand on his sword while Sakura clenched her fist in attack mode. Just as it jumped from the couch, in midair, Yume clotheslined it in the throat, sending it tumbling back towards the wall. The three looked at Yume, who was wearing a rather ticked off scowl as her brow twitched.

The large dog coughed, trying to get some air into its lungs. "What the hell?" it said in a girl's voice. "I greet you and you try to kill me?"

Yume folded her arms. "You idiot, that was your special greeting? I should have known something would be up when Kimiko told me you were trying to greet me." She put down her bag and walked over to the dog, pulling up her up by the furry skin flap of her neck. "Cut the crap Yumi or you wouldn't be here. You nearly scared my team with that bullshit."

"Such language nee-san." The dog replied, smirking as she tried to feign a scolding tone.

Team 7 looked at the pair in confusion. Yume was talking to the dog, or whatever that thing was. The dog was talking back to Yume. Talking being the strangest part since it didn't look like the summoned dogs they saw with Kakashi unless it was like the wolf Kiba's mother had. And then the dog, named Yumi, called Yume her sister. They fumed over this until they realized that Yume just accused them of being scared.

"Hey I wasn't scared." Sakura retorted, "I was holding back so I wouldn't kill that damn dog."

Sasuke just sighed and release his sword, eyeing the pair in front of him. Naruto just looked at Yumi and Yume.

"Uh… nice dog?" he said, unsure at what to say in this situation.

Yumi turned and barked at them. "I'm not a dog. If anything I'm a wolf."

Yume took that moment to hit Yumi on the head. "You're not even that. Get back to normal." She threw Yumi, who became covered in a white smoke, releasing the henge as she landed.

When the smoke cleared, Yume was right. She wasn't an animal, she was an actual girl. Yumi looked to be the same age of Team 7 and the in between height of Sakura and Naruto. Her hair was black, long and flaring out on the ends to give a wild look in a low ponytail. Her eyes were a familiar neon green. Her skin was a tanned complexion, giving it a healthy glow. She was thicker and slightly curved in the waist and hips than Sakura at a size 12 and Yume with a DD bust to go with it. Wearing a green sleeveless mandarin shirt, short black Capri pants and bandages around her arms, Sakura groaned at another girl that was surrounding them.

"Hi there guys." Yumi waved at the vaguely confused and stunned group as Yume shook her head. "I'm Ookami Yumi."

"Hi there." Sakura said quickly before turning to Yume. "Who is she?"

"Uh… I'm right here." Yumi replied, pointing to herself. "You could've just asked me."

"Yumi here," Yume said. "Is my sister."

"WHAT!" Team 7 looked over the two girls. From the differences in surnames and looks alone, there was no way that the girls could be blood related sisters.

"Yep." Yumi grabbed Yume by her waist. "We're sisters. I presume you meet my mom, the Genkage."

Looking at Yumi, they could see the family resemblance of her and Kimiko. From the same neon green eyes and same black hair. Even if Yumi was a darker complexion from her mother, they assume that she would take after her father for a few points. Meanwhile neither female had anything in common genetically with Yume.

"Hmmm…" The three looked at each other. This family and village were getting weirder and weirder.

Naruto pointed to the two other animals still there. The cat was watching them from above. As if passing judgment upon them. _Creepy…_ "Who are those animals up there? People too?"

Yume shook her head. "Those are actually animals and our pets. The cat's name is Yukiko. She belongs to me."

"And the dog up there is Jade." Yumi included. "She's all mine."

Sakura looked up and frowned. She wasn't a fan of cats. Not at all.

Looking at them, they resembled their owners greatly. Jade was a dog with an unknown -to them at least- mixed breed with black fur that was similar to Yumi's hair and a close enough eye color to match. Meanwhile, Yukiko was a Japanese Bobtail with light hair that was along the same tint as Yume. Her eyes were dark but the hint purple could be seen reflected in the light.

Jade walked down the stairs, a different approach from her owner while Yukiko walked down along the railing. Jade walked past, taking a quick sniff at Sasuke and Sakura, but stopping and sniffing around Naruto.

Naruto eyed the dog as she sniffed at his feet and hands before sitting on her hind legs and looked at his eyes. When she finished, her tongue stuck out in a pant as she brought up one of her legs outward to Naruto, her paw pointed towards him. Naruto looked from the dog to the others.

Yumi giggled. "Wow, that's a first. She's personally welcoming you. I guess she likes you."

"Oh." Naruto said, kneeling down and taking the paw and shaking it while he petted her on the head. "Hi there Jade. Nice to meet 'cha."

Jade barked happily and licked at Naruto's face. "Easy girl," Naruto laughed. "At least you don't have dog breath."

Sasuke and Sakura looked at their teammate that was getting a facial cleansing from Jade. They looked down to see the cat looking up at them. Up close they could see that she had slightly darker spots along her right eye and back, a healing scar down her right eye and a cut in her left ear. Yukiko began to rub against Sasuke's leg, purring lightly. Sasuke looked down, not minding the cat, since she wasn't loud like the dog.

"I take it you like cats." Yume asked. "She can sense it. But it's a first that she goes up to anyone so soon."

"Hn…" Sasuke answered, subtly touching the fur of the cat's back. Yukiko left his leg and looked at Sakura.

Sakura feigned a smile and knelt down inching closer to touch, "Hi there pretty cat."

Yukiko hissed and turned away, giving Sakura a view of backside. Sakura twitched as the cat snubbed her. Yume sighed and looked apologetic at Sakura,

"She's not the most social of cats. You're not the first person she snubbed. She doesn't like everyone. You see…"

Jade made her way to Sakura to sniff again but was stopped by the cat with a guttural growl. The dog's ear went limp and decided to stay by Naruto who was now entertained by Jade once more.

"Hey Yume…" Yumi looked up at her sister.

"Yes, Yumi?" Yume looked down, looking at her sister's pout.

"Why are you in this stupid jutsu of yours anyway?" Yumi pouted, wrapping her arms around the girl and poked at her chest. "You feel like a fricking twig, your hair is too long and missing its awesomeness and you even shrunk your chest."

"Yumi stop that." Yume replied, trying to push the girl off her. "I just came from a mission. The guy there liked thin girls and long hair to grab."

Yume raspberried the idea. "Thin girls…phooey!"

"Wait?" You're in a transformation jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"It's nothing serious." Yume said. "I just did a mission where I had to change my appearance just a tad."

"How much is a tad?" Naruto asked.

Sakura was kinda enjoying this. If Yume was in a henge that meant that she didn't really look like this. Maybe she was fat or just plain unattractive. No way could she get Sasuke now. Sasuke may not show interest but he did have standards.

"Just show them." Yumi said. "I miss my real onee-san"

Yume sighed as she made the handsign to initiate 'Kai' "Fine, I was going to do it when we got settled in. _Kai!"_

Yume pushed away the white smoke that came to cover her. "Happy?" she asked, removing the bang from in front of her left eye only to have strands come back. Yumi, similar to Yumi, filled out in her legs, arms, waist and hips; going from what was a size 8 to a size 14. Her bust increased a D cup size, making her much bigger than Sakura but a cup smaller than her sister. The freckles appeared and eye color remained the same. Her hair was pixied cut at the base of her neck with just enough hair to make a ponytail. Her bangs were longer and able to frame her face but were concentrated mostly to the left side of her face. Its color was darker than previously and had purple as it highlights and streaks.

"Yay!" Yumi hugged, snuggling into the other's chest. "That's my sister!"

"Release me," Yume retorted. "I'm happy to see you too but I have to do stuff before I can relax."

"Which is?" Naruto asked.

Yume just smirked, pressing her hands together. "A tour of the house of course."

The three groaned; confused at why a tour of the house was so important. But before could start, Yumi let go of Yume and walked over to Sakura, putting her arm on the other shoulder to bring her closer.

"Say pinkie," she whispered, ignoring Sakura's wince at the nickname. "Who's the hottie over there?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder and eyed Naruto and Sasuke. "Oh…His name is Sasuke."

Yumi smirked. "Yummy. Is he attached?"

Sakura tilted her head, "Attached? You mean like dating?"

"Dating, married, screwing…" Yumi replied. "Is there someone else?"

Sakura glared at Yumi, thinking about her answer. _So Yumi is after Sasuke huh? Not a chance. "_Why, yes he is." Sakura replied, with a convincing tone, "Me and Sasuke are very much dating and very happy. He doesn't want anyone _else_."

Yumi just smirked. "Not for long." With that Yumi let go of Sakura before she could say more and walked over to her aim. "Hey there." She said causally, "Sorry about early, I guess I tend to go a little overboard. If you like, I would like to make it up to you. What do you say Sasuke-kun?"

"Uhh…Thanks…that's nice and all but…" He said, "I'm not Sasuke."

"Huh?" Yumi said.

"Yumi…" Yume sighed. "This is Naruto." She pointed to the blonde beside her before pointing to the twitching brunette. "That's Sasuke."

Yumi looked at the two. She then turned to Sakura. "I said the hottie, not the brooding girly one."

Naruto snorted, covering his mouth. Sakura blanched as Sasuke went into further brooding. Yume facepalmed as her sister's comments."

"Yumi…" Yume started again. "Do not start this soon. We just got here."

Yumi took a look at the real Sasuke, recognizing his facial expression of a scowl and the tension that was held in his face. Yumi shook her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Yumi looked at Sakura, "Look at Sasuke, Sakura. You're not doing a good job as his girlfriend. I mean he's all grumpy looking and tense. You're such a bad girlfriend." Yumi shook her head in disappointment, "You're so neglectful and apparently in denial if you think you guys still have a happy relationship."

Sakura gasped and paled as she looked from Yumi's unfazed face to Sasuke's brow that was beginning to twitch as he folded his arms. Naruto snorted and Yume had a further meeting with her hand.

"We're…not… girlfriend and boyfriend." Sakura nervously laughed, "Where did you get an idea like that from?" She then turned to Sasuke. "I don't know where she got that idea from."

Sasuke ignored Sakura and turned directly to Yumi. "We're not dating. Me and Sakura have never dated and _never will_ date."

Yumi tilted her head, her arms folded at her chest. "Really? Cause Sakura was just telling me that you two were dating and very happy together and that you did…"

Sakura clamped the girl's mouth shut.

"I don't what she's talking about Sasuke." Sakura said loudly over Yumi. Sasuke continued to ignore the girls and walked over to Yume.

"Just do the damn tour." Sasuke said in a monotone. "The sooner the better."

Sakura looked at Sasuke with gloom and embarrassment. She got a side glance at Yumi, who was trying to hold a straight face but the corners of lips were curling up. She was getting amusement out of this!

It was then that Sakura had realized that she had been set up by Yumi. Sakura clenched her fist, straining the yell was ready to erupt from her. She hadn't been here long and already she hated both the sisters and this village.

Naruto just hummed. He preferred to stay out of this…it never ended well. For him anyway.

Yume sighed as everything calmed down just before sending a glare to Yumi, telling her to stay away from them for a bit. Yume pointed around, "Well here's the living room. This also serves as a training room for the indoors as well as one of the meeting room, eating room and relaxation. We also have a kitchen and the back door to the outside next to the kitchen. The back room takes you to the outside training area and the lake. The washer and dryer are in the room under the stairs. And if you would follow me…"

Yume lead the others upstairs. On the second floor were a total of seven doors: the first five next together and the last two further down the long hallway. She point to the middle doors, one door with a yellow sign on it and the other with a green one. "These are the bathrooms, two of the three in total. The yellow one only has a bathtub for cleaning. The green one contains two separate showers.

"Oh…." Sakura said, not really caring. Yume continued.

"The first room is for Sakura." Yume said walking past each door, each door a color to respond to them: Pink, Orange, and Blue. "After that, it's Naruto's and then Sasuke's." She stopped at the last door, a jade colored door. "And this is my room. Don't enter unless it's emergency or close enough to concern me. Now then… you can put your bags and stuff in your rooms. In about 2 hours, we will have a meeting and get something to eat. "

Yume quickly opened the door and slipped in, closing the door behind her. "I advise that is the time to take a shower or bathe. You guys reek."

"Hey, I resent that," Naruto yelled before he caught a whiff of himself. His nose wrinkled up. "Never mind."'

Yume couldn't help to but giggle through the door, and began to undress. "See you guys in a bit.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at their room's door. Sakura scowled as she noticed that her room was the farthest away from Sasuke while Yume's room easily the closest.

Naruto looked around. "Hey, where's Yumi?"

Sakura turned to Naruto. "Who cares? I don't trust them."

Sasuke turned to look at Sakura and then turned away. "She's still downstairs."

"Really?" Naruto leaned along the railing.

Lo and behold, Yumi was sitting on the sofa, Jade across her lap. She turned to look at the three, smirking. "Hi guys."

Naruto slowly waved back. "Yup, she's still down there."

Sakura gave a side glance at the girl before talking again. "I don't like her."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, "She seems nice…"

"Nice?" Sakura hissed back low, "She tried to attack us when we came in through the door-"

"I thought she said was going after Yume as a surprised welcoming?" Naruto asked, turning to Sasuke.

"That's the weirdest welcome I've seen thus far…" Sasuke replied. "And I've seen Kakashi, Lee and Gai and even you greet people before."

"And she set me up." Sakura interrupted. "I bet she knew very well who we were."

"Seriously Sakura." Sasuke sternly said, "Why would she want to set you up for? She may have seen our name or picture but definitely doesn't know us well enough to hold anything against us."

"Then you explain what just happened." Sakura replied.

"You made a fool of yourself and she made you get caught in your own lie." He responded.

"I wasn't being serious." Sakura huffed. "She asked about a hottie. I thought she meant you, not Naruto. And then she asked if you were attached and I had to say something so you wouldn't look available."

"Hey," Naruto said, "I'm a bigger bombshell than Sasuke."

"Yea I see your point. Why lie?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke, in all seriousness," Sakura stated, "How many girls have stopped stalking after you told them you weren't interested in them?"

Sasuke opened his mouth but closed it. "She has a point Sasuke." Naruto replied.

"If I were you guys," Yumi shouted from below. "I would take my shower and bath. Yume tends to get pissed when people don't listen and may just turn off the hot water to prove a point." She leaned back her head to look at them and smiled. "I'm just saying."

Heeding the advice, the three went into their room while Yumi watched TV. In her own room, Yume was her in bathroom, wiping off the gunk and dirt that had collected on her from her pervious mission. She watched the brown, red and other color swirls go down the drain as she washed her hair and body.

"Guy ick just doesn't come off like it use to." She sighed, turning off the shower and grabbed a towel. "Let's see how this mission goes. I really hope I can handle it."

She started to dry to herself off, looking for her body and hair moisturizers and clothes. She sat on her bed and started to prep herself.

"I wonder what those other three are doing?" she asked herself. "They better be getting dress."

Meanwhile, the three were far from that. With their towel and bath products they all went to the bathroom. Problem was they all reached for the same green door.

"Dobe," Sasuke said, "What are you doing?"

"Well Teme," Naruto gave a light shove. "I'm going to take a shower. I don't know what the hell you're doing."

"I think you're both mistaken," Sakura bumped both of them via Naruto, "But I'm taking a shower first. One of you can take a bath."

"Hey," Sasuke replied, "Why can't you take use the bath in the other bathroom and me and Naruto use the showers."

"No way," Naruto replied, "I'm not taking a shower with you!"

"And why not?" Yumi asked from below, "You both have the same junk."

"Hey," Naruto said, leaning against the railing. "Me and Sasuke don't have the same junk and I don't want to shower with him."

"Why not?" Yumi asked, before smirking. "Oh… is it because you're small and you're afraid that Sasuke will make fun of you?"

"Excuse me?" Naruto replied back, leaning over the railing, "I am not small!"

"So you don't have one?" She laughed.

"Dammit!I do too have one." Naruto yelled, "You're just as bad as Sai."

Yumi gave them an innocent face. "Then what's the problem?"

Naruto fumbled at his mouth trying to find an excuse before he settled with pointing at her, his face flushed.

"Who asked you anyway?" he retorted.

"You guys, if you having a problem," Yumi replied scratching Jade's ear. "Just ask Yume. She can sort it out."

"But she's in the shower." Sasuke replied leaning on the wall, "Secondly, she said not to enter her room…"

"Unless it's an emergency or something that could concern her." Yumi finished for him. "Which I'm sure she can consider this a concern. Trust me; I think I know her a little better than you do."

"But isn't she getting dress?" Sakura asked.

Yumi shook her head. "She's finished by now. I would ask her now before she gets out here see you guys still haven't bathed yet."

Before they could question her again she interrupted them. "Hurry, hurry. Just go."

Talking the advice, they walked themselves to the door. Naruto took a deep breath and swung the door. All three walked into the room.

"Yume we need help with-" Naruto cut his question, rendered speechless as his mouth was agape. In another second Naruto's face turned red. As did Sakura and Sasuke.

The three were frozen in place. Naruto still holding the door knob as Sasuke and Sakura leaned onto Naruto's back.

In their sights was the vision of their captain, in black underwear, as she was bent forward, trying to put on her pants as she gripped them to be pulled up her thighs. Though she was shirtless, bandages were wrapped around her chest and torso so the only thing visible was the black straps sprouting out.

Yume stared, unable to talk or react as the three came in. All four of staring at each other with blank faces before Yume snapped out of it and screamed.

Very…

Very…

Loud.

"GET OUT MY ROOM!" Yume screamed, throwing something at them.

Yumi listened in as the three were dodging whatever she was throwing at them –though one could assume it was pointy as they started to stick to the wall- as the other three was trying to apologize and explain it but with no progress at all so far.

Yumi chuckled as she leisurely petted Jade who was just smiling away.

"This is going to being so much fun." She said, smiling and showing her canines as her name was shouted by the four.

**TBC**

**Author Note: I've decided that I'll post a new chapter after I finish the one after it. Also, I'm not one to hold a chapter hostage for reviews or beg either, but I would really like some critiques and input. I like having ideas and yours maybe use in the stories. The plot may be absolute but the sub plots are ever changing. May not seem like much but it really is a writer crack to reviews. Thank you. **

**Also I plan to have an another accomplice from the Akatsuki but can't decide who. Can you give me some ideas.**

**I already ruled out Kisame since he was torn to pieces, Pein since Maadara has body who knows where and Hidan is technically still alive. Zetsu…. Well Zetsu is Zetsu. **

**Leaving Sasori, Konan, and Kakuzu**


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